Never trust a Pirate
by Bangaraang
Summary: Kiku is the crown prince and the son of the emperor of Japan. He sets off in his first journey when their ship was suddenly attacked by a group of Western pirates and becomes Capt. Kirkland's hostage. Pirate AU AsaKiku
1. Raiding and Treasure

The sun slowly began to set, painting the sky with vast colors ranging from red down to violet, signaling the day was over. Kiku leaned on the wooden wall of the ship as the colors also affected the water, making the scene perfect. The wood was carved smoothly that his kimono won't be damaged by any loose splinters from the certain material. He took a deep breath, absorbing everything around him. He was calm, contented and filled with bliss. Everything seemed perfect and nothing could go wrong now that he felt that he was finally free from the unmovable ground and was now sailing freely in a ship, seeing the beauty of the world.

It has been three days since his very first independent departure, without his parents watching him. Right now the one accompanying him was a general in the army, appointed by his father, the emperor, to negotiate with other countries in trade. Of course Kiku, the prince himself, convinced his parents that he was old enough to sail along with officers as a practice for himself whenever he will hold the title as emperor in the future.

"Kiku-sensei." Haruka, one of the servants, stood beside him and bowed, "I would like to inform you that dinner will be ready in a while."

The prince smiled politely and nodded his head, "I will be in the dining room after the sun finally sets."

"Hai." She bowed again with a smile and headed off into the boat.

Kiku returned to his peaceful gaze of the sea when he spotted something else. It was another ship sailing right towards them.

The ship seemed to be like a foreign ship. The design was different and the head was carved with a woman who had a fish tail as a lower body. He narrowed his eyes more to see how the men on the boat looked like, and then realized they were westerners. A bearded man with an eye-patch and lacked hygiene was holding unto a pole, looking through a telescope.

At the same time, his own crew responded. The navigator shouted on top of his lungs for the crew to get ready and the captain began to steer the boat away from the threat.

"Prince!" Hokaido, the head general, ran out and grabbed the prince away from the edge of the boat, "It is not safe to stay outside." He led him into the cabin before the prince could say anything, then locked the door and closed it with a bow, "Stay here and don't make a sound, Kiku-senpai."

Kiku was stunned, and then regained his composure and freedom in movement after a while. The room he was placed in was small, probably for one of the female crew members to sleep in (they wouldn't let the females sleep with the rest of the male-dominated crew). He was still on guard, his ears twitching when he heard thumping above him.

"Ah… chaps from the East!" a rough voice laughed. Kiku's heart started to beat faster and he leaned on the wall.

"What is it that you want?" Hokaido's voice asked in return.

Another voice boomed with laughter, "Ye idiots don't know anyth'ng 'bout us pirates eh?" then it was followed by a series of laughing and mocking fits from the foreign accented visitors.

"Altair! Check the decks t' see whether there are more of 'em Eastern chaps." The first voice commanded then Kiku heard the door leading inside being kicked opened.

"Fancy ship they got 'ere." A voice slyly commented.

"Seems to be a ship for royalty, ain't it?" another one responded as doors were opened and checked. The Japanese prince pressed himself to the wall as the footsteps grew nearer.

Then the dreaded sound stopped in front of his very room's door, he bit his lip, trying to contain his rapid beating of his heart as sweat trickled down on his skin when the second voice commented, "Hey lookie here, Altair. Damn this ship's filled with gold!"

For one second, Kiku let out a sigh of relief, only to be followed by his body tensing when he heard more thumps above him and the voice that was pertained to "Altair" spoke up.

"Wait a minute, gotta check the rest o' the cabins." The door knob twisted but was halted for a moment, "Wha' the…"

"Gotta probl'm?"

"Seems to be there's something in 'ere."

Kiku pressed himself to the wall, watching in nervousness as the doorknob was being tested all over again and the pirates continued to curse. Then the two men were filled up in a short time that the door was now being hit with something. The prince scanned the room, then found a metal stick and grabbed it, his hands shaking and sweating anxiously.

The door was now broken and the prince was faced by two bearded men, one who seemed to lack nutrition and the other one who had too much.

"What do we have 'ere?" Altair, the big one, chuckled as he saw the young man.

Kiku glared at them and attacked swiftly, hitting their bodies with the stick.

"O-ow!" the thin one cursed as the other one got a grip on the Japanese's arm quickly.  
><em>Damn, that Altair's fast.<em> Kiku glared even more, trying to struggled out from the grip but only received a throw to the wall and the stick falling on the ground with a large _clank_.

"You li'l idiot." The pirate glared back and picked him up once more by his kimono and the smaller one tied both of his wrists together, "Let's see ye escape once more lad!"

His whole body ached from the throw, his legs a bit shaky as he was forced to walk by Altair, "Yer one of the royalties?" Altair asked and only received silence from the black-haired prince.

"Yer too straightforwerd, Altair. You gotta loosen up with 'im." The other one chuckled, ruffling Kiku's hair.

They could hear booming laughter from above, a something falling on the ground while Haruka's voice shrieked, "Hokaido-sensei!"

Kiku's eyes widened in fear from the noise that came from above. What happened to Hokaido? Was he hurt? Is Haruka alright? That seems to be a doubt in that third question. From how he was handled here, the others seemed to have the same treatment.

The three climbed up the stairs and saw the whole Japanese crew being tied up and held by the foreign pirates. Kiku's eyes fell upon Hokaido who was in pain and on the floor.

The general's eyes looked at Kiku and shouted, "Prince!" the other members shouted in their own language, showing their hate towards the English-speakers for man-handling their prince. "Let him go!" Haruka struggled from a large man's arms who just laughed and caressed her cheek, ignoring her pleas.

Altair threw Kiku on the ground, making the captives even noisier and complaining a loud while shouting. Kiku's face ached even more as it was slammed on the floor. His body was weak already and it didn't want to move anymore. He could here the worried calls from his crew and more laughs from the invaders.

Then all of it stopped when a loud thump vibrated the wooden floor and the whole enemy crew stopped laughing and shouting. Kiku summoned the energy he stored and tried to regain from immobilizing his body to look up and see what caused the sudden silence.

All of the crew members were looking at someone, and all of them looking submissive. Kiku turned his gaze to see someone standing, holding a rope in his hand.

The man had shining green eyes with pale skin, noticeable bushy eyebrows, his blonde hair half covered with a large red and feathery hat. His body covered in regal and decent clothes that matched none of the crew's dull and dirty ones. His poker face just matched the silent mood as he let go of the rope and started walking, scanning the place then his eyes landing on the general.

"What do we have here, gentlemen?" His voice was completely different from the rough-voiced pirates. It rang, chiming throughout the place.

"Asians, cap'n." one of the crew members answered, "a royal one too."

Another one nudged Hokaido with his foot, "Their cap'n." The general looked up at the blonde, panting but determined.

"We do not come in any kind of harm." Hokaido said, hoping this would let them loosen up.

"Then that makes you an easy catch." The captain bluntly replied. His eyes scanned more then stopped and stared at Kiku, who was lying on the floor, his head the only up to see what was happening. "Who is that?" He eyed carefully on his clothing, then to his face.

Altair and his partner chuckled, "The royalty part of the crew, cap'n. This chap's the prince!" the thin one proclaimed.

"'Prince' you say?" the captain's voice sounded amused as a smirk played on his lips, "What a fine catch we have here then." He chuckled, walking towards Kiku who glared at him. Then he kneeled down, his hand reaching towards his face and held him by the chin, "Why aren't you a rare one?"

"Don't touch him!" Haruka screamed, and then her mouth was clamped closed by the huge hand of the pirate who was holding her.

The blonde captain's emerald eyes met with Kiku's brown ones. He inched his face closer, his smirk growing into a grin, "Mind telling me your name, darling?" He sang lightly.

He only received the same silence of what Altair and the other did; he did not like how the prince did not give him an answer and threw his head unto the floor then bent over to the shaking man underneath him, his grin wiped away and replaced with an annoyed look, "Do not test my patience, boy." Then the captain stood up, smiling again, "Alright, _your Highness_," he said mockingly with a bow, "I will leave you and your crew alone if you would _kindly_ let us take all of your food, clothes, necessities and treasures and we shall spare you from the fate of what the other ships had gone through. But keep the clothes you are currently wearing right now." He proposed, his British accent dripping in every word.

The other pirates laughed and started scurrying into the decks, "Raid'n time!" they clapped with laughter when they were halted by a gunshot, the bullet just an inch away from the first man to reach the door.

Their captain glared at them, "Who told you to move?" his tone changed into a venomous one, sending his underlings to cower in fear and stutter. He did not bother to hear their reasons and looked at the Japanese prince again, "We still did not have the approval of our darling prince."

Kiku took a look from Hokaido, just to assure his decision. The general nodded weakly, and the younger Japanese glared at the pirate, "Fine. Take all you want."

And with that, the captain signaled his boys to begin raiding the ship. They acquired lots of food than expected, weaponry, clothes, utensils and tools along with some large beds, jewelry and other expensive and exotic things.

After watching them empty their vessel, Hokaido spoke up, "Now you took everything from us, leave our ship now."

"Ohohoho, not everything my dear." The captain walked over to the prince, "We still haven't gotten the most _precious_treasure." He then pulled him up to his knees and smiled at the rest of the Japanese crew, "The dear prince will be our hostage from now on." he started, the crew angrily hissing at him with native words, which were only ignored.

Kiku thought of following the crew, but seeing that it will only fall on idle ears, he decided to not. It may only make the situation worse and something might happen to him.

"I wish to be contacted by your dear emperor. Tell him he has a month to send me his letter and the demand price for him to pay for his son." He started walking, pulling Kiku up to his legs and making him follow, "I will be expecting 500,000 pounds by the end of the given month or the prince will be the one to be paying the price himself."

Then he whistled, a hawk flew and perched beside the captain, "Give the letter to my dear Cherlot once your emperor has written his letter and readied his money." He signaled his crew to finish all of the raiding up and stepped up on the plank connected to their own ship, "and please don't forget to address me by my name."

Everyone glared at him as he smirked, "The name's Arthur Kirkland. _Captain_ Arthur Kirkland."

The crew cheered and cooed as he dragged Kiku into his own ship and the rest of the pirate crew loaded into their own vessel, leaving the Japanese crew still tied up.

"Kiku-sensei!" Haruka screamed, making Kiku turn his head worriedly and ashamed that he had caused trouble for everyone. But then again, it was better to have them spared than to be burned down in case they didn't have him as a replacement for a hostage.

Arthur now looked at the young man he was holding then roughly pulled the rope on his wrists, making him hiss in pain and turn his head around, "Kiku eh?" he smirked as the younger man glared daggers at him; "The name suits you well my dear." He chuckled.

Kiku looked away from him, his heart beating with anger and fear at the same time, "You said you would leave _all_ of us alone." He hissed. Arthur only smiled from amusement at the angry statement.

They continued to walk in silence, Kiku looking away from the pirate, not wanting to look at those horrid features that tricked them. And right now, Arthur's patience was being affected by the lack of obedience of the prince earlier.

The prince looked around the shabby and old-looking wooden walls of the ship; he did not understand how this ship could still be sailing when the interior looked like it could be collapsing any time. They were now away from the main deck where the crew members were having their fun in the things they have stolen from them and the deeper they walked into the huge ship, the quieter in became.

"Well, here we are my dear." Arthur's accented voice smiled as he opened a door that looked like the other doors they have passed. "Welcome to my quarters." He swung the door open, exposing the room to Kiku.

The Japanese did now expect what he saw. The room was the complete opposite of the ship and the crew. The walls were painted neatly and the room looked very large. A king-sized bed of red and gold with a roof stood at the northern part of the room, while a large couch with lots of pillows was placed in the middle of them room. In front of the couch was a fireplace in the west wall. A large table was placed beside the couch with a lantern serving as a light aside from the fireplace. A large chandelier hung above all of it and a large closet stood just beside the bed.

On the east wall was a large bookshelf filled with books and other written materials and was preceded by a series of paintings. One of them was a large portrait of the very pirate, his face expressionless as he posed on his own. The other one was him standing beside a polite lady sitting in a large royal chair who was smiling sweetly while Arthur still had the stoic face. The next frames were now maps and a small picture of a child with blue eyes and a cowlick in his brown-blonde hair.

His observations were put into a halt as he was dragged into the room and was placed in the corner near the bed and the captain tied his legs together then connected the ropes to a metal bar near him.

The Japanese looked up to glare at the pirate as he leaned over to him, taking his smooth face again in his hand, "Now, now, don't be so angry about this boy. You'll get used to staying here in a short while." A dark chuckle escaped from his throat as the boy pulled his head away from the hand, "Your crew isn't well experienced in the world of waters my boy," the blonde continued to mock him, kneeling in front of him and his breath just inches away from Kiku's ear, "You did not know a very important rule in the seven seas."

Kiku flinched at the sound and gritted his teeth, trying to contain his shivers in his spine from the hot breath that tickled his skin.

Arthur husked again, smirking, "_Never_ trust a pirate."


	2. Trial Escape

Kiku rotated his hands, rubbing his wrists to the tight rope. Damn this. Damn that fucking pirate. The Japanese glared at everything around him as his heart pounded in hatred, thinking of the pirate. Wait, why was he even wasting his time hating on that punk? He should be worrying about his people on the ship he was taken away from.

Then the door swung open and Arthur walked in carrying a tray of food, "Evenin' deary~" he greeted with a smirk while walking to the prince. His emerald eyes were locked with Kiku's angered brown orbs as he kneeled and placed the tray in front of the Asian, "Your dinner, your Highness."

The prince looked away hastily, not wanting to look at him any longer. Why would the pirate even bother to feed him if he wanted to make him a prisoner? Wasn't he supposed to leave him to starve? But then, the mere presence of food distracted his thoughts and his eyes gave into the temptation to look at the plate in front of him.

Arthur caught his look and began to untie the rope around his hands, "Yer lucky tonight; you got the Eastern special." He tsk'd when he saw that Kiku's wrists were almost wounded by the tight ropes.

Kiku stared at the food, which was white rice along with fish and soy sauce. A pair of chopsticks was placed at the side of the plate. The fish was cooked well along with the rice and a glass of water stood on the other side of the plate.

"Eat up, sweetie." Arthur cooed and sat on the couch, placing his hat on the table beside it, the opened a bottle and drinking it straight up. Then he frowned when he saw that the food he placed wasn't touched even if the prince was free to move his hands, "Go eat it, the chef wasted his time making sure it looked a bit presentable."

The prince still had his arms limping at his sides, and when he heard Arthur's voice, he quickly turned his head to the side making Arthur's eyebrows furrow, "Are ya gonna eat or not?" he demanded.

"I refuse to eat food from the likes of you." Kiku hissed angrily. He turned to glare at the pirate, who only sighed and waved his hand dismissively, "Fine then. Starve yourself for all I care. I'll let you stay like that until you change your mind."

Kiku continued glaring at him and leaned on the wall, turning his face to the corner of the wall again. He heard the pirate grunt and went back to drinking. Then his gaze lowered to the food; he couldn't deny that he was hungry, since he failed to eat dinner back in his own ship since the bastard of a pirate attacked them.

Now talking about the recent attack, Kiku wondered how the others were doing. Did they reach Japan already? Did they have anything to eat? And what about his parents? They would probably panic and dispatch a rescue mission as soon as they hear the news. But how would they find him? He himself didn't know where they were heading or even what part of the world they were. But then there was no more hope in worrying anymore, at least they escaped safely now.

Moments later he relaxed his body, leaning on his side to the wall and closing his eyes. He was exhausted as hell and he the rope around his legs didn't help. His stomach lightly grumbled, reminding him that it was slowly being emptied. Then he continued to sit in that position and shifted whenever he felt uncomfortable.

The whole room was silent and the crackling of the fireplace was the only sound present aside from the footsteps of Arthur walking through the room to get something and back to the couch. It was a small journal book that the pirate kept and wrote every end of the day. He dipped a feather in a small jar of black ink and started to write on an empty page. Every now and then, he would glance secretly at the prisoner and only finding him doing nothing.

Kiku observed his movements, even with his free hands; he didn't dare to touch the food. It wasn't because he didn't like to eat; it was because if he did eat it, it would show that he had surrendered himself to the ship and its captain. And he was also aware that the pirate was glancing at him at times; they once caught each other looking at the other (which Kiku broke immediately). He continued waiting until he was sure that the captain was indulged enough in writing that he didn't bother to check up on him.

The Japanese slowly moved his hands to the rope around his legs and tried the tug a part loose. His eyes continued to look out in case the captain would move or anything; it took sometime to work on since the rope was tied very tightly and securely by the Brit. His hands continued to busy himself as sweat trickled down his face while his heart thumped furiously which relaxed when he made sure Arthur was still busy and not paid any attention to him. He averted his pupils to the corner of his eye to check when a loud boom and force that landed on the wall centimeters from his face and in front of his eyes paralyzed him.

"Don't bother to escape, your Highness." The captain leaned back on the velvet couch, aiming a pistol with smoking coming out from the opening, his face blank and stoic, just like what he looked whenever he faced his crew. "You don't think I would let your hands free so you can escape, do you?"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair, and then stood up without a word. The journal was placed on the table and the pen was laid across the mouth of the ink jar.

Kiku watched as he walked towards him, his eyes half-glaring at him with fear and anguish. Then the pirate kneeled beside him, holding the rope and tying them once again around his wrists, making sure they were secured. He continued to watch the captain as he walked across the room without a word and took a spoon then walked back to him.

The pirate lifted the plate up with one hand and took a spoonful of rice, "Open your mouth." He commanded.

Kiku pursed his lips, his cheeks lightly blushing from the fact that he was going to be _fed_ by another man. Then he looked at the pirate's face and found him squatted in front of him, still holding the spoon up to his mouth.

"C'mon, don't give the bloke who's trying to feed ya a hard time." Arthur complained, then looked sternly at him, determined to feed the little rascal.

The prince looked at the food, then felt his stomach grumble; and after some attempts of trying to will away the hunger (which was visibly heard by Arthur and made him smirk in amusement), he opened his mouth in compliance and let the spoonful of food into his mouth. Surprisingly, the rice tasted good. He continued to receive the spoon filled with his native rice and fish, making the pirate grin.

"Ain't that bad, isn't it?" Arthur fed him another spoonful of the food and placed the plate down. He continued to feed the captive, all the while feeling amused. Then he held the glass of water and waited for the captive to finish swallowing then made him drink the water, "Don't worry there, the water's clear, love~"

With the last word, Kiku blushed darker and looked away from the pirate. Arthur chuckled and stood up, "You should be thankful; I don't usually treat prisoners like this. I'd probably let you rot in jail but then you are worth a price from you parents, aren't you, dear?" he placed the tray on the table and took off the elegant long coat then folded and hung it by the couch.

Kiku glared at him again, and then looked away. That damn wretched pirate; why couldn't he just die? Then again, he _should_ be thankful from actually feeding him. But why didn't that blasted pirate just leave him with the ship and just take everything from them. Oh yeah, since he was the perfect one to use as hostage.

Arthur unpinned the large emerald gem from his jabot and sat on the bed, "Well then, hope you have good dreams, your Highness." He smirked mockingly only receiving a glare and silence in return.

The pirate grunted with a smile and turned off the lights by blowing the candles off. Kiku averted his eyes to the bed which creaked as Arthur laid upon it, his shirt half open and he didn't even bothered to get under the covers. Then he placed his arm on his forehead, half-covering his eyes as he closed them and fell asleep.

Kiku sighed in exhaustion and relief, now that the pirate was now asleep and won't be bothering with him. Now he's thinking of how will his parents find him and how will he escape. After thinking more, he realized it was pretty much hopeless, at least for tonight. Arthur was too skilled and quick with his movements and at least his parents were safe. An unintentional yawn escaped him, and his eyes felt heavy, then finally dropped as he rested his head on the wall.

…

…

…

It was hard to stay asleep on a rocking boat, much less on the floor. Kiku had awoken for the third time for that night and he was sure it wasn't near morning still. Then he felt the urge to escape now, seeing as the pirate was asleep deeply. He wriggled his hands, making them at least a bit loose to move around. Then he started to play with the knot, his heart pounding in anxiousness and success as he actually untied and got out of the rope. He glanced at Arthur, only to find him facing the other way and breathing steadily.

Then he started on the ropes on his legs and finally untied them loose. He carefully stood up, and then walked lightly across the room, still glancing at times to see whether or not Arthur has woken up. And to his relief, he didn't.

As soon as he reached the door, he turned the knob as carefully as possible, all the while looking at Arthur to see how he was doing; then sighed again to see that he was still asleep. Another careful pull on the knob, making sure that the door didn't creak and got out, then closed the door again.

He was now free from the room. Now all he had to do is to escape from the ship. His legs started to lead him through the hall, and then he remembered the long boat that hung beside the ship. Yes, he could use that to escape. Then he finally got out from the lower decks then climbed out. He scanned the place and mentally praised that no one was up there. Then he started scurrying to the farthest part of the boat from the decks and checked the long boats. He was in luck.

There were 4 long boats that he could choose from; he picked the last one and started to climb out when he felt a sharp and cold metal touch his neck.

"Whe' d' ya th'nk yer goin'?" a rough and unfamiliar voice demanded.

Kiku slowly turned his head and saw a tall young man with an eye-patch on his right eye with red hair and eyebrows. He had the same green eyes as Arthur and held a cigarette in his mouth, "Don' jus' stand the'. Speak up, bloke." He pointed a sword towards Kiku, his eyes following his every move.

The prince swallowed then waited for the right moment to move. If he didn't act sooner, he'd probably have his head chopped off. Seconds ticked by later as the two stared each other in the eyes, at the same time, Kiku had calmed himself down to prepare for the battle he knew that will happen later.

It took about half a minute for him to put his mind and body into peace as he relaxed his muscles that were tensed by the presence of the blade. Then he closed his eyes with a deep breath and opened them again, only to see the pirate not move.

After having a staring contest from the pirate, he bent down and pushed the sword upwards, then ejected from a back-stance to a series of kicks and managed to make the man break loose of his sword.

He caught the sword and twirled around to strike at the pirate but only to be blocked by his other sword. Then a sword fight began as they tried to hit each other and block the attacks they received. Kiku leaped up a board and both slid their blades across each other's swords. On one move as the sword dancer evaded gracefully the attacks and managed to slice the cigar of the other into half.

After fighting for a while, they heard cheering and howling from the decks; they must've have woken up the rest of the crew with their fight.

They continued as the redhead attacked again, and Kiku fought back, only to be distracted when the noise stopped and he turned his head to see why they halted. At the same time, a blade came pass his face and pinned his kimono to a wooden post and the sword which he stole from the pirate taken from him.

"Nice sword dancin' skills ye go' the'." The redhead smirked and turned to the crowd, and so did Kiku. He took away the sliced cigar from his mouth and threw it into the sea.

Arthur stood in the middle of the space between the silent crew and the two sword-fighters, his face stoic and blank, "What caused a bewilderment so early in the morning that the sun hasn't even risen yet?" he looked at the two men in front of him.

"This bloke ya go' he' tried tae escape wi' one of tha longboats." The redhead hiked his thumb towards Kiku, who tried to pull away from the pole. This did not turn out good. Not good at all for Kiku.

"Tried to escape?" Arthur looked at Kiku, his eyes piercing into the young man's soul. The prince swallowed as he continued to stare right into his eyes.

The look in his eyes didn't say anything good about what will happen to him; and he was pretty much sure he was going to be in deep shit.

"Alasdair." Arthur spoke up to the redhead.

"Yep?"

"Take him to the dungeon, chain all of his limbs."

Kiku's heart began to beat even more violently as Alasdair pulled the weapon out from the pole and his kimono then forcefully but with a bit of gentleness, pulled his arms together and led him under the deck.

He was now back inside the ship, the halls now even more dirtier and dustier. He could hear Alasdair's and his feet thumping on the wooden floor and another pair following them. Then he was pushed inside a cellar then his arms and legs shackled and chained to the wall.

"If I we' ya lad, I'd pra'." Alasdair whispered before exiting the dungeon cell and stayed outside the bars.

Kiku's breathing hastened as he watched Arthur step inside slowly, his gloved hands holding a whip, one brushing through the leather weapon.

Arthur averted his eyes from the whip and looked at the man kneeling on the floor in front of him. Then he lifted the whip up and sent a blow to the man's side, making him collapse on the floor, shaking.

"I believe you are still ignorant of the situation you're in." and with that, he sent another blow from the other direction. Kiku trembled terribly as his face hit the floor hard. And before he could pull himself up, Arthur sent another one on to his back. His kimono was now torn and tattered and he was coughing roughly as he felt a lump grow in his throat.

"You are a prisoner here, so don't you dare think you would get away so easily." Arthur bluntly added as he delivered another one. After several more blows, he stopped and bent over to hold his chin up as the Japanese's vision was blurred from shaking and the pain that burned throughout his body.

The captain's face was suddenly less than a centimeter away from his own face, his breath tickling the pained and sensitive skin of the prisoner, "You're lucky… if you weren't such a precious royalty you wouldn't even get to hear my voice anymore." His smooth voice husked then he roughly threw his head down again, "It seems that our prince doesn't like special treatment. From now on he works as part of the crew." He walked past Alasdair who looked at Kiku sympathetically and helped him to sit up straight.

"Sarry 'bout earlie'; di'n't mean tae wake Artie up an' ge' us intae trouble. An' Artie's a'wa's like tha'. Ya ge' used tae him in no time." Alasdair gently lifted him up to a sitting position, making him lean on the wall, "Swea' to tha fuckin' me'maids 'e's like tha' tae awl tha new blokes on board. And afte' tha', 'e ain't gonna be tha' bad."

Kiku was too weak to respond and his clothes were stained by his own blood and torn by the force of each blow he received. He just hoped that Alasdair was right and that it wouldn't turn out as a nightmare just like he think so. His eyelids were too heavy and exhausted that he fell asleep immediately right after Alasdair locked his cell and left him.

* * *

><p><strong>BK123: So here's the second chapter, thank you for those who subscribed to this story, even though this is sucky since it's my first AU. . And sorry if updating this will take a long time ;A; please feel free to review and even criticize this.<strong>

**And oh yeah, Alasdair's Scottish :D And I know I suck at his accent.**


	3. Friends and Plans

A stinging pain caused Kiku to wake from his dreamless sleep and twitch as the wounds on his back were in contact of a harsh liquid. When a low, unintended hiss escaped from his lips, a voice spoke up behind him, waking him up fully.

"Sorry there your Highness." A young and polite British accent apologized. Kiku turned his head around (not without some pain from the light wounds his neck and face received earlier) and saw a young teenage man, dressed like the other crew members, with long blonde hair and olive eyes, sit behind him and tended his wounds, "But Captain Kirkland ordered me to treat your wounds. And after this you'll be working with the rest of the crew."

"A-ari-arigato…" Kiku managed to rasp out then hissed when cold water came in contact with his back and that moment he realized his upper body was exposed with the kimono taken off and just hung by his waist. And finally, his limbs were free from the chains and shackles.

The younger man continued to clean his wounds while Kiku observed him; he was gentle with his hands and the older didn't bother to move as so the other could do the job properly.

Hands gripped on the chains while Kiku gritted his teeth trying to hold his hisses and sounds of complaint while the blonde finally tried to get into the deep parts of the wound. Thankfully, he asked Kiku to raise his arms as rolled a white bandage around his body to completely cover his wounds, "There we go. Now change into these clothes and come up to the deck. The rest of the crew's working. We're headed off to an island which is also a trading location between other pirates and merchants." The lad helped him to stand up while Kiku was also assisted by the wall for balance.

"My name is Daniel by the way." He handed over the clothes in which the prince bowed in thanks and took them.

Daniel went up and Kiku started to change into unfamiliar clothing. It was a long sleeve blouse with pants and a belt along with a pair of boots. He carefully took off his kimono, hoping no one would see him; then put on the clothes given to him. After he had worn them, he felt a bit stuffy; these clothes are so different from the ones he wore, and much tighter than his kimono.

He dismissed his thoughts and went up, to see that almost everyone of the crew busying themselves with cleaning and other chores. Then he turned to look for Daniel, who was helping in scrubbing the floors by the poles with Altair.

"Oh, you finally came out!" Daniel waved as Kiku walked over and bowed.

"Thank you again." The Japanese replied with his usual gesture of bowing.

The younger smiled and pulled him over, "You better get started in cleaning, Captain isn't someone who likes his boat dirty."

"Nor patient." Altair added, "Oh yeah, sorry for man-handlin' ya yesterda'. Gotta do me job."

Kiku bowed again with a gentle smile, "It is alright."

Altair nodded, happy that he was forgiven by the prisoner. Then his eyes suddenly changed into a soft expression as he looked at the smaller man kneeling down on the floor to do his first chore as part of the crew, "Ya got pretty beat up e'lier, huh?"

Daniel seconded the motion with a nod and went on to scrubbing the floors, "Maybe scrubbing floors isn't good for you. Anyway, we're almost done with the floor. I think Captain can understand you can't move that much."

"But I am part of the crew, yes? I should do something as part of it."

"His first mate ain't that bad as him. Probably e's tha opposite of that bloke." Altair shrugged as he stretched his muscles and looked at his work, "Okay, this part's finished."

"First mate?" Kiku asked, not quite getting a clear description on the title.

"That's the Captain's right hand; like the assistant captain, but much lower in ranking and maybe even nicer than the captain." Daniel explained, looking up to higher part of the ship, "In our case, that's the guy whom you fought with, Alasdair. He's actually cousins with the Captain."

Kiku followed his gaze and saw Alasdair grinning happily, leaning on the huge wooden stirring wheel while speaking to Arthur, who was bending over to a table, checking the maps and his compass. He himself was replying to Alasdair, smirking a bit as he spoke up too. Both were too far for Kiku to hear, but he did take note that both of them were probably close; and that Arthur actually looked a bit nice. A BIT nice.

"Ya blokes sure tha Sonnet's spick an' span?" Alasdair asked out loud, his accent making the words a bit hard to understand for Kiku. Yet the others seem to hear it fine and replied with huge smiles and a simultaneous "Aye."

Kiku looked at Daniel, "What did he mean by 'Sonnet'?"

Before Daniel could speak up, another crew member answered for him, "That's the ship yer standing in, princey, 'Lord William's Sonnet'."

"Aye. Cap'n Arthur's pride and joy; tha bloke fought ev'ry ship and won with 'er." Another one added.

Altair placed down the cleaning materials and stretched, "She's a lot older than the capt'n; used to be one of tha ships tha royal family uses." Then before Kiku could comment, one of the members that stayed high up in the nets by the sail shouted, "Incoming ship!"

At once, the crew members rushed to their stations and Kiku stood there idly, not knowing what to do. An incoming ship? Are they going to raid it like what they did to their ship? He looked up to the crew member who shouted and saw him looking through a telescope.

"French ship, cap'n!" he reported after inspecting the ship from afar.

Arthur took his own telescope and looked into it; his other hand rose up telling Alasdair to not move the wheel as he inspected the ship himself. True enough he saw a French flag with sails of different colors. He would have suspected it as another ordinary French ship but when he saw two more flags beside the large French one, he sighed and folded his telescope then rubbed his temples, "Fifth time we crossed paths with that frog."

"Should we welcome 'em?" Alasdair chuckled, resting his body on the wheel, "'e's probably 'appy tae see ya, aye?"

"It's not only the frog. He brought his friends along."

"Guess we go' more company lately. Tea time per'aps?"

Arthur ignored his cousin and walked down the stairs then looked at Kiku blankly. The Japanese felt his heart pound faster as his eyes met with the captain's green ones. Then the staring session was interrupted when another ship appeared just beside theirs, tearing Arthur's eyes away from him and grimacing even more at the presence of the ship.

"Mon cher!" a voice familiar to Kiku called out. He knew he had heard that voice before; and it probably came from a certain Frenchman who visited their country a while back.

"Frog." Arthur answered back, tilting his hat a bit as a small greeting.

A tall blue-eyed man with long blonde hair stood in the other ship, with two other men beside him, "Arthur, bonjour! What a coincidence we bumped into each other." The man bowed a bit with a wink and waved.

"Awesome ta see ya again, Artie." The tall albino grinned cockily at Arthur, his arms folded. A small canary perched on his head and snuggled in his white hair, making it look like a white nest.

"Hmph. I feel the opposite way, frog, canary-man."

"Hey, it's _awesome_canary-man, British punk. Or you can awesomely call the awesome me by my awesome name instead, it's Gilbert or Gil." The albino man shot.

The blonde one grinned wider, "Glad to see you socializing more with Arthur, Gibert."

"Of course. Francis, you should awesomely realize I'm awesomely spreading my awesomeness to every one to everybody can awesomely experience my awesome awesomeness." Gilbert boasted.

But Arthur wasn't focused nor was he interested in the two men nor did he had any care when his language was being butchered slowly with Gilbert describing everything with the word "awesome". Kiku observed he was stari- no, glaring at the other man beside Francis (in which Kiku finally remembered who he was). He was tan with dark brown hair and green eyes which glared back at him. And the two foreign pirates noticed the tension between them and joined the others in looking at both of them, waiting for something to happen.

"Nice to see you again, Anthony." Arthur smirked darkly.

The other pirate frowned, "My name sounds terrible in your language, Arturo." A ringing realization was brought to the crew as they realized he was Spanish by his accent.

"We share the same opinion."

"How's the queen anyway, punk?"

"None of your business, catholic."

"If you know me, I take that as a compliment." The Spaniard grinned, "And it's "Antonio' not 'Anthony'."

"The same thing with me, _Anthony_. Hope your Armada's good; I'm glad to kick it ass again." Arthur chuckled.

Antonio grimaced and growled, "You sick son of a bi-"

"Antonio, calm down." Francis shushed his friend and faced Arthur who was grinning wider this time, "It would be nice if you'd stop the topic, mon cher."

"Aye, topic? You mean the time when I sunk 'Armada Victoria?" Arthur snickered.

And with that, Antonio drew his sword and stepped up to the edge while grabbing a rope from their own ship's sail then jumped into the Sonnet. Kiku hid behind a pole and watched them. These were pirates he was looking at. Western pirates. The kami knows what they do with each other. Most probably one of them is fighting.

"Antonio!" Francis shouted while Gilbert leaned with a huge smile on his face and cheered, "Go Toni!"

The Spaniard was to slash Arthur when the other drew his sword quickly and blocked it, "Why the sudden temper?" the Brit cooed mockingly.

Antonio only grimaced and began striking him again.

The two began fighting as the crew of the two ships started cheering. Arthur grinned as Antonio continued to attack him for the reason that he easily provoked the poor bloke's soul.

Antonio was about to deliver a good blow when he was pulled away in the shoulder by Francis, "That is enough, mon cher." It took about a minute for Antonio to arrange his thoughts and sheathed his sword and walked out from the ship and into theirs.

Francis sighed and glared at Arthur, "And you, mon cher, I believe you should stop doing that to Antonio if you don't want the royal court of England to know who you are."

"As if the royal court would listen to you, another pirate like me. A French one specifically." The Brit snorted.

"Privateer, darling; a sailor serving my own country's government and unlike you, a pirate whom your own monarchy tries to get rid of." He hissed then his eyes were caught by Kiku, who was standing by the posts, "Hm, aren't you a familiar face?" he stood up straight and looked at him.

Kiku planned to hide behind the wooden pole but was stopped by the French pirate's laughing, "Oh don't tell me, Arthur, you just kidnapped the prince of Japan?" he watched as the tall man walked towards him, holding his arms out.

"F-F-Francis-san." Kiku stuttered, slightly bowing then was surprised when he was hugged. He knew Westerners were like this, but he did not expect that the French representative who visited their country was the one who would hug him now. His eyes immediately turned to Arthur while being in the long blonde's arms. Arthur was walking towards them, clearly not amused.

"Aye, raided the boat and took him. The other details are none of your business, frog." He pulled Francis away and shoved him almost down to the floor, "No touching him also."

"My, my mon cher, you have taken a liking towards that piece of fine Eastern treasure?" He cooed, "Mind telling me the details?"

"As I've just told you, frog, no." Arthur glared at him, standing protectively in front of Kiku, "Now get off my ship or I'll get you off myself."

Francis shrugged casually and walked pass him and over to Kiku, "Fine then, mon cher." He leaned over to his ear and chuckled, "Even with his temper and attitude, he's such a charming and attractive pirate, non?" he whispered, "But I warn you, mon cher, mermaids are quite the man-stealers."

"W-wha-" a blush lightly painted on Kiku's face as he heard the words and gulped. Then he shook his head and willed away the sudden anxiousness caused by the Frenchman who walked away, still chuckling to himself. Why would he even think that that blasted pirate was attractive? Sure enough he had some looks, but why would he think that he was charming? Just because he had those shining emerald eyes, nice but messy blonde hair, beautiful pale lips and that mesmerizing smile of his and his walk that he- wait, why was he thinking like that to someone who just whipped and chained him to the wall while raiding and leaving nothing for his people to use in going back to Japan? And what the hell with mermaids?

The prince shook his head even more, dismissing his thoughts as he realized he was blushing even more. No, he must feel no infatuation to someone he must muster anger to. He cannot; it was just the opposite of what he should feel. He must not have soft feelings no matter ho-

"What did he tell you?" Arthur's accented voice rang in Kiku's ears and head. Kiku gulped and willed the sudden weird feeling in his stomach and willed the blush creeping on his face away but to no avail. No, he should not feel anything like that to that person; he did not deserve it.

But those opinions were dismissed when his eyes were locked with Arthur's emerald eyes who were staring right into him. Kiku could hear his heart pound in his ears as they looked at each other for what seemed to be hours until Arthur spoke up again.

"Well?" he questioned, confused at the look of the Japanese man. And there Kiku realized that the other pirates had sailed away from his ship; and that the captain was standing close to him, a little bit too close.

"A-a-I..." Kiku gulped and mentally slapped himself for stuttering.

Arthur waited patiently for Kiku to answer properly. He knew the French frog must have said something to Kiku, he was just not sure about what it was. Nevertheless, he still said something useful; he knew it. And deep down inside, he was irritated by the fact that Francis had made him stutter and blush. Now that he thought about it, he knew the frog before? Is it possible that Kiku likes that French wanker?

He shook his head, dismissing those thoughts. No, it wasn't important right now. He needed to know what Francis told Kiku.

"M-mermaids." Kiku finally answered.

"What about mermaids?" Arthur asked further.

The prince shrugged the unfading blush still on his cheeks as he looked away, "I do not know. I c-couldn't hear the other words he said."

"Fine. It's probably his very horrid accent." Arthur nodded and walked over, "Mermaids?" he thought even more, his mind abandoning Kiku for a while.

Kiku sighed in relief and leaned on the mast. That was so close, it was so close that they could kis- kill each other. Yeah, that's the word. Then he slapped his own face, scolding himself for not responding the way he must respond to his captor. This was a disgrace to his country, family and honor. He must take away his life if he would just live in dishonor to his country and tradition. Yes, that is what he should d-

"Ya men free tha sails and prepa' fo' wind! We're headed fo' Island Cove Bay." Alasdair announced, steering the wheel a bit and distracting Kiku from his thoughts. Arthur was with him, standing beside him, looking a bit less serious, "We'll be visiting some old friends there."

At once, Kiku immediately stepped aside for the pirates who had pulled the ropes and freed the sails. He watched them as they shouted at each other and made sure everything was how it should be. Then his gaze was averted to Arthur who was walking down the stairs and standing on the other side of the ship, looking through his telescope.

He summoned up the courage and walked over to him, "Where are we headed?" then a sudden urge came up to him and he continued with a "Captain?" He felt that he should at least recognize him as the captain, or else he would end up in the dungeon again if he didn't.

Arthur's face lit up a bit as a small smirk appeared on it; the way Kiku said it was just adorable and amusing, "Island Cove Bay. Figured it out since the frog said something about mermaids, we must be crossing the mermaids' territory." He explained, leaning on the wood and looking at Kiku, "Glad to hear you finally know my position here."

Kiku tried to compose of himself as he felt his heart pound again. Arthur was giving him the look again; and it was hard to break away from it.

"So your full name's Kiku Honda?" Arthur started again, motioning for him to stand beside him as he faced the waters and the horizon. The prince stepped beside him in obedience but stood straight and firmly, not feeling the urge to lean on the wood, unlike the pirate.

"H-hai." He answered the last question, a bit confused, "How did you know?"

The pirate lifted a brow, "The frog told me before he left." He left out the fact that Francis also said that Kiku was cute; he did not want the prince to fall for that Frenchie, not at all.

"Oh." Kiku swallowed and scolded himself again for not listening earlier. Then another question popped into his head, "What is a mermaid?"

Arthur shrugged, remembering that Kiku was from Japan, the Eastern nation that wasn't that experienced in the Western world (but probably heard some news about it since he knew the Dutch was in good terms with them), "Mermaids are female creatures of the sea. The carving you see in front of the ship? That's what they look like. They can be deadly but it's usually covered by their beautiful appearance and their voice." He explained, his mind drifting off in his thoughts, "Very beautiful indeed."

Did those creatures even exist? From what he knows there are mythical creatures, animals that act and think like people, or a hybrid of both, such as the "mermaid" Arthur was talking about. He wasn't sure if these pirates actually saw these things, or maybe hallucinating from sailing too much.

Then a sudden feeling sparked inside Kiku, a bit of confusion and hatred mixed with each other when he noticed how the pirate spoke of those mermaids so dreamingly. Was he jealous? No, he can't be. He must not feel any jealousy, not at all. So what if he likes somethi- er, someone else? Like he cares anyway. He did not feel any jealousy. Not at all…

"I see you are deeply interested in them." He managed to say, realizing the silence between them. A small smile was forced on his face, just to make sure that Arthur wouldn't notice that he was struggling inside his mind. But it seems that the pirate didn't notice anything at all, in fact, he was suddenly snapped out from his thoughts.

Arthur blinked several times and sighed, "Oh, I guess so. It's not everyday you encounter them. They are very pleasing and great singers too." Then he turned his head away from Kiku, "I'll be checking the maps. We need to get there before sundown." His stern voice explained as he walked away.

Kiku watched him walk away, his chest feeling a bit tighter than usual. After awhile he blamed the wounds he had; it probably affected some of his insides.

"Tol' ya e'd be better later on, yar Highness." Alasdair came from behind and stood in Arthur's place beside Kiku.

"You can just call me 'Kiku'." The prince looked down on the water that passed as the boat moved through it. "I guess so."

"Still, 'e was a bit nice' t' ya than tha othe's. Tha' probably how 'e handles royalty like ya." He commented, scratching his head then noticed the younger man's silence, feeling that he must be thinking about the destination they're going to, "Gotta be ca'ful 'bout Artie wi' mermaids. Still tae young tae realize the' ain't tha' good fo' us men." Then he smirked, "Gotta look afte' tha younge' ones."

With the word "younger", Kiku perked his head up, "How old is Captain Arthur-san?"

Alasdair disregarded the unusual suffix and shrugged, "21 yea's ol'."

"H-he's two years y-younger than me?"

* * *

><p><strong>BK123: Hi guys, thanks for reviewing and subscribing to this story and yeah... I'm really sorry if it's crappy, my hiatus in writing fan fics is really going bad, and I tell you, I think this isn't worth reading ;A; anyways, this was inspired by Pirates of the Carribean with some other pirate info sources :3<strong>

**I'm still apologizing for Alasdair's accent, I have no idea on the rules of how Scottish people pronounce their words. ;A; Review for next chapter, if you want.**


	4. Mermaids and Jealousy

Arthur leaned further to the table as he studied his compass and map. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to estimate how far they were, until he noticed that the sky was changing color. He bit his lip and took out his telescope and looked through it then saw an island from afar then folded the apparatus immediately then went to the wheel, "Everybody get ready! We're nearing Island Cove Bay." He stirred the wheel to the side, making the boat turn to the left.

Everyone else ran around and prepared themselves. Alasdair stood firmly beside Arthur, crossing his arms and smoking, "Ya seem anxious in seein' 'em, Artie."

"I need something from one of them."

"Hm? Wha' would tha' be?"

Instead of answering the question, Arthur stepped in front of the wheel and observed their surroundings. They were completely surrounded by water except for the left part where rocks rose out of the water and then made sure they were at the safe distance then commanded loudly to the whole crew, "Everyone; stop and be as quiet as possible." He looked up the sky and took a deep breath.

Kiku watched as everyone stopped doing whatever they were doing and silenced them with cautiousness. They must have known why they were doing that, and he leaned over to Daniel, who was sitting beside him on a crate, carving something out of wood "Why are we being quiet?" he whispered.

"It's the last colors of the sunset." Daniel whispered back while pointing to the sky that was painted with dark violet and pink. Everything was still until a chill ran up Kiku's spine as cool and smooth voices hummed from the rocks behind him. He turned his head and saw a naked woman resting her upper body on the rocks with blonde hair and a mystically fair face. She was joined by two others who rose from the waters and more arose until all of the spaces in the rocks were taken. And as they appeared one by one, the humming grew louder.

"Whateva' ya do, don't provoke them." Altair whispered as all of them turned to look at the maidens, "No eye contac' wi' em; the' known fo' read'n your feelin's."

Kiku couldn't believe his eyes. Some of those maidens sat on the rocks and they didn't have feet; they had the tails of fish as legs. So it was true, they weren't hallucinating. Either that or he fell upon the hallucination from sailing too. But the sailors back in Japan didn't get to see these creatures so this must be true.

One last arose from the sea, a young mermaid with blonde hair and blue eyes stared into the boat with a smile, "Captain Kirkland." Her voice was as smooth as the waves they were in right now yet a French accent was still evident as she spoke. No wonder Arthur sounded so in love when talking about mermaids.

"Francesca." Arthur climbed down the stairs to look at the mermaids more closely; he was smirking as he did, clearly amused by the scene.

"Francois came by just earlier; along with his two new friends." She winked then turned to Kiku (who in turn was looking straight right into her) with a malicious look in her eyes as she turned to Arthur again, "Is there anything you came here for, love?"

Arthur placed his hands into his coat's pockets, his head slumped casually to the side, "I've heard you know where Singer's treasure is."

Then a blonde mermaid smirked, "Oh yes we do."

"Is that a new crew member I see?" Francesca smirked while looking at Kiku, who was getting nervous at the attention he was receiving.

"Eastern chap. Nothing special about him." Arthur's face was now stoic. He moved his gaze from Francesca to a random part of the waters, making sure he did not have any eye contact with the mermaid.

The French mermaid shrugged, "Fine. If you want to know where Singer's treasure is," she smirked and looked at Arthur, "I'll need to whisper it to you."

Green eyes looked more serious now, yet beautiful at the same time. Kiku couldn't his eyes off of Arthur ever since he moved them away from the mermaid's gaze.

Arthur walked over to the long boats when Francesca shook her head, "I want to see your 'Eastern chap' up close too."

With that, Kiku was pulled gently by Alasdair and to the long boat with Arthur. He sat there kneeling while looking at Arthur. The captain leaned over to him and whispered, "Don't _ever_ make eye contact with them." His voice was full of seriousness which made Kiku gulp. How could something very beautiful be so dangerous?

After some rows from Alasdair, they stayed in the middle of the water and Francesca emerged out of the water and so did the other mermaids. They surrounded the small wooden boat and smiled beautifully.

The three sailors sat still when Francesca rested her head on the boat, "Don't you want to know where Singer's treasure is?" her eyes gleamed as she caught Arthur's own emeralds.

Arthur suddenly found himself succumbed into the blue pair of eyes as he instinctively leaned over to Francesca. Half of his mind was running purely on what he was seeing; and the next thing he felt was the mermaid's lips on his. His eyes closed as the kiss went on; tasting every part of her lips, knowing he won't be experiencing this anymore. And when he realized that they were kissing a bit too long, he pulled away, out of breath, "Singer's treasure?"

Francesca smirked and Arthur realized she had snaked her arm around his head and dug her fingers into his blonde hair, limiting the distance of which he can pull himself away from her.

"It's in Dragon's Lair. His ship was washed on shore. But be careful, you'll have company." She whispered then looked at Kiku.

The prince didn't know how to react for, what he calculated in his head, five hours. He had torn his eyes away when the two kissed and Francesca was maliciously staring at him while she did. His heart was thumping all over his body; was it really necessary that they kiss? But why is he reacting like this anyway? He was raised to be an emperor with an iron will, not to be affected merely by seeing the captain being kissed by a mermaid. He was to be calm and stern in every situation. And with that, he took some deep breaths and looked at them.

His concentration was immediately broken when he saw Arthur a bit flushed and Francesca still smirking.

"Quite a good kisser, isn't he?" she commented, looking at Kiku.

Was she trying to provoke him? He hasn't kissed him yet. Wait no, he hasn't kissed him and he will never try to. Why is he getting affected by this anyway? Not that he likes Arthur anyway.

"I believe t-that Captain-san should be told that." He mentally praised himself for not stuttering that much.

"Oh of course I'd tell him that; I would just like to spread my observation." Francesca winked and swam further from the boat, "Well I guess you pirates should be going, aren't you?"

Arthur cleared his throat, "Y-yes we should. Thank you again Francesca, for the information." Then he faced away and signaled Alasdair to row them to the ship, "a-and also for the kiss."

"You're welcome as always, Captain Arthur." The mermaid waved and they all submerged into the water.

As soon as they arrived in the ship, Alasdair looked at the crew and declared, "Ready tha sails an' go back to yar stations ya wretched gits! We off to Dragon's Lair Islan'!" then he watched the rest of the men run around and the sails being fully unfolded.

"We're headed more to the West. It would take us a day or so to get there if we speed up." Arthur's face was recovering slowly as his serious expression came back. He walked over to the top deck and steered the wheel.

Kiku looked at Arthur as he navigated the boat then leaned on the wood, now facing the still water. His thoughts placed aside the scenes that happened earlier. More to the west? So they're moving farther from his home? Kiku bit his lip as the nostalgia hit him. He was growing tired of staying in this ship. He just wanted to go home now. Where are they anyway? Were they safe home? Do his parents know where he is? He missed everything in Japan. He just wanted to see the cherry-blossoms and the hot springs by the forests; he wanted to see Japan right now.

He slumped more on the wood then hid his face in his hands; what's happening in Japan now that he's been a hostage ever since the raid? He just wanted to go home. That's all. That's everything he wanted to have right now. His family and friends all around him.. He groaned a bit and took a deep breath. The stress was getting into him. He was probably going to explode sometime here. But he can't; he was a prince. If he couldn't take on the challenges here, then he wouldn't be fit as an emperor. Yes, he must be calm with everything; but it was still hard…

"Anything bothering you?" Arthur's voice rang in his ears and he turned his head to the right and saw Arthur looking at him.

He stood up straight and shook his head, "Nothing." Then he turned his head away when a hand grabbed his own. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now; especially if it's his captor.

Arthur grimaced, "It doesn't seem like nothing."

Kiku pressed his lips together and pulled away his hand roughly from the pirate's. The hatred and anger in his heart started to surface again. He wanted to shout at the captain. It was his entire fault he was trapped in this nightmare. He would have been in Japan right now if it weren't for him! His hands balled into a fist as more thoughts ran through his mind and fueled his anger.

"I hate you." He managed to rasp out after containing himself from shouting.

Arthur's face showed his signature poker face expression as he waited for him to continue.

The prince pursed his lips and turned to glare at the pirate, "I hate you. This is all your fault. I would be in Japan by now if it weren't for you." He ranted, with hatred poisoning every word that came out, "You filthy, demonic and mad pirate. I would rather die now than to continue this senseless journey with you. Everyone knows I'd die before my parents get to me."

The pirate continued to listen, his face still stoic. He could hear the crew members going nowhere and preparing for the night. It was the perfect time for someone to shout and not so much people can hear it.

"I hate you for taking me away. I don't know what happened to the crew and I know you don't know too." Kiku bit his lip, swallowing up more self-control, "Why didn't you kill me back then? Or even treating me as a prisoner like how you filthy pirates treat all prisoners? I would have liked that than staying here on this ship without knowing where the hell we are going and knowing that someday, I'm just going to randomly die on this ship knowing that I'm thousands of miles away from my home!" he cursed himself for raising his voice, then dismissed the scolding when he thought that there was no difference if he shouted or not.

His heart thumped when Arthur nodded and started walking away. What did he come there for if he'd just leave him anyway? Then Kiku found himself staring at some random plank on the floor, gulping at the thought that he might have gone too far.

"If you want to get out of this ship so badly, I'll loosen the last longboat on the right side of the ship. Go escape when every one of the crew is asleep." Arthur continued walking up the stairs and into the captain's deck (which has the second entrance from up the room) without looking back at Kiku.

Alasdair stood by the wheel, looking a bit concerned as Arthur passed by, "Ya really gonna make the princey go?" he asked, then received silence as a response then sighed. There was really nothing to change his cousin's mind.

Arthur stepped into his room and walked down the stairs that was covered by a tall set of blue curtains. His hands pulled them away from his path and walked towards the center of the room and he crashed on the couch, placing his hat on the table.

He pressed the temple of his nose and breathes in deeply while closing his eyes. Maybe it was a bad idea bringing the prince in. No, he was too precious to be left. He opened his eyes and looked at the large painting of him and the queen.

What would she do if she was in his place?

No, the queen is not a pirate and never will be.

This was a bit too much. From the meeting of those three idiots to the mermaids and Kiku's small outburst from earlier; it was a bit too much for one day for him. He just offered the prince the escape to nowhere and in the middle of the ocean. From what he would know, the prince might not try to escape now. Let's just hold on to that fact. Everything was stressing him out; as the captain, he shouldn't, or his crew would feel the same.

Yes, he shouldn't be stressed; everything would be okay tomorrow. He rested his head on a cushion and closed his eyes; maybe sleep could fix the stress and he'll handle things tomorrow…

…

Okay maybe not tomorrow; probably in the middle of the night.

A loud set of simultaneous and continuous knocks irritated Arthur to a wake. He frowned, annoyed and shouted, "What in the blasted queen is that entire racket about?" he stood up while putting on his hat and opened the door.

A shaking crew member gulped and stood in front of him, "C-Captain… W-w… you need- hurry…!" he stuttered and Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Say it properly, lad."

Then at the same time, another crew member shouted down the hallway, "Captain Witlock is attacking the ship!"

* * *

><p><em><strong>BK123: Who the fuck is Captain Witlock? LOL IDK I just made that name up and he's inspired by Blackbeard from PotC. And I also included a Fem! France that's a mermaid. derp.<strong>_

_**So so so so sorry if I updated so late, I had so much to do and our last quarter exams just ended so it's practically our summer vacation right now. And our computer's derping like fuck so just be patient for the next chapter :)**_

_**Thank you so much for the reviewers! I'm sorry if this isn't much of a good chapter. But I would like a lot of reviews and criticisms.**_

_**There will be more people unrelated to Hetalia but there will be also characters from Hetalia.**_

_**I don't own Hetalia by the way~**_

_**Remember your reviews darlings.**_


	5. Freedom or Death?

Arthur's eyes widened and he rushed to get his sword, "Why didn't you tell me immediately?" not waiting for an answer, he rushed up while grabbing a pistol.

Up in the deck, Alasdair was quite busy in attacking and fending off the pirates of the other ship when he saw Arthur, "'Bout time ya wok' up!" he shouted then proceeded to push a small man off the ship.

The blonde captain started to join in the fun and began fighting and stabbing all the intruders while shooting some who planned to get near him, "Where in the bloody hell is Witlock?" he managed to shout back at his first mate.

"You don't have to shout it at Alasdair, Kirkland." Arthur shot another man in the head and turned his head to the direction of the voice

A big man with long black beard which looked like an opium addict (Arthur's perspective; either that or he's Russian) stood on the other ship that seemed to be sailing to the opposite direction, smiling.

Arthur grimaced, "Witlock."

"Off to Dragon's Lair?"

"None of your business, wanker." Arthur shot then smirked, "Do you really want me to demolish your dear ship twice?"

Witlock laughed again and signaled someone, "Do what you want, if you do, then your little Asian dies." Then someone that seems like his first mate walked to his side while holding Kiku and placing a dagger near his throat, "Don't underestimate me, Kirkland. I know that hard shell of yours; you have a very soft spot just below it."

Arthur's eyes widened as he saw him. Did he really try to escape? That didn't matter right now; what mattered is that someone _else_ got a hold of _his_ treasure and he wouldn't back down to get it back.

He then glared at the other captain, "What makes you think I'd care for him?"

"I don't think mermaids lie, laddie." Witlock chuckled, "They can, but they don't when their lives depend on it." With that, his right hand drew the dagger closer to the pale skin of the Japanese.

The blonde captain gulped as he looked at the options. First, he could continue to attack and kill the enemy ship then kill Kiku along with it; second, he could leave them be and make sure the prince was safe. This was hard; he couldn't let that damn Witlock win, nor would he risk Kiku getting hurt or worse, killed.

Then his eyes were caught with Kiku's, who was silently telling him to go on attacking. He had a stern look in his brown orbs that assured Arthur he had a plan. It was now or never with the both of them.

Arthur climbed up to the edge of the boat, holding the rope; at the same time, the dagger was already touching the prince's neck. They had to work on timing if they both wanted to survive.

"If that's how you want it, Kirkland." Witlock said dimly.

Kiku watched and calmed down for ten seconds as he exchanged looks with the captain and nodded. It was time. He swiftly elbowed the first mate while holding the hand away from his neck as he did so the dagger won't touch his skin. And after that he kicked him into the stomach and instinctively evaded Witlock's sword maneuver behind him by ducking then crawled quickly away from the two as Arthur jumped and fought with the rival captain.

As Arthur fought with Witlock, he tossed a sword to Kiku who immediately caught it as he leaped then crossed swords with the first mate while knocking one of the random crew members off the boat.

They fought more until a tight and slick rope strangled Arthur's neck and made him fall on the hard wood. Air was slowly being taken out from his lings as the matter started to tighten around his airways and he was being pulled to the sea.

"Arthur-san!" Kiku immediately threw the sword which he stole from the first mate and used it to cut the foreign matter and Arthur was able to pull it off his body and rasped for air.

As he tried to get up, Arthur felt his shoulder being penetrated by a cold metal then was released and exposed to warm air. His left shoulder was bleeding severely but that didn't stop him for a bit. He picked up his sword again and charged at Witlock when the same slick substance choked him and brought him to the floor.

Witlock chuckled and stepped on his wound, making him hiss in pain, "Mermaids are very helpful in these times, aren't they?"

Arthur's hissing made Kiku turn and look at him worriedly, "Arthur-sa-," then he was hit by a hard shovel on the back and made him fall on the ground, hard. Different sailors came and aimed their guns at him, some with their swords. His head was aching and his body was all sore, add it up with the first mate stepping on his head. _Fuck these pirates_.

"K-Kiku…" Arthur gasped as Witlock stepped with more force unto his wound.

"Now, now, young laddies," the bearded captain chuckled and released his feet from stepping on Arthur's shoulder, "you two make a great team, y'know?" he smiled then turned to Kiku, who was beaten down to the ground and was too weak to fight back as he was distracted with Arthur's condition, "But not really that effective. Yet this little Asian brat is very talented and good looking as an addition too. I'd like him on my ship."

"Don't you dare, agh-!" Arthur groaned more as the elder captain stepped on his wound again.

"Arthur-san…" Kiku called out, making Arthur turn to him.

The blonde's face was painted with pain and concern with the prince, "G-go escape. I'll t-take care of this."

After hearing that, Witlock laughed again, "And you say you didn't care! Well then, I'll be more considerate now." He looked at Kiku and stepped more unto Arthur, making Kiku automatically twitch in worry as he almost felt what Arthur felt, "Kiku, isn't it? I have an offer."

The first mate released his foot from Kiku's head and the others stepped back as Witlock gave them a look. He took this opportunity to look at Witlock, half-glaring.

"He escapes, you will become our prisoner."

Then he took out a gun and loaded it, "Or you escape and he dies." He pointed the gun at Arthur's head then looked casually at Kiku, "I'll count to five; I'll pull the trigger if I don't get an answer."

"Go escape." Arthur rasped out as he felt more force was added by the heavy foot.

"One." Witlock started counting.

Kiku didn't know what to do know. He needed to be fast. His life or Arthur's?

"Two."

"I said go!"

Should he go?

"Three."

He wanted freedom right?

"Four."

"GO FUCKING ESCAPE!"

"Five. Say your last goodbyes to your friend, Asian." Then he cocked his gun and-

"Don't!" Kiku screamed on the top of his lungs then he was automatically chained with heavy metal chains and was pushed down to the ground again.

"KIKU!" Arthur couldn't believe it. He looked in disbelief as Witlock shrugged and walked away from him. At the same time, Alasdair leaped to his side and helped him stand up, "C'mon, Artie."

Witlock signaled his men to retreat and watched to cousins as they got up, "And no worries 'bout your treasure; your luck is as trashed as your ship." He laughed manically.

Alasdair had to hold Arthur tightly as the younger man was trying to struggle out, "Calm down, Artie! Ain't gonna do ya any g'd."

"You demonic son of the devil. I hope you burn in hell." Arthur hissed while his cousin grabbed the rope and made sure they were both ready to jump.

"But how could the son of the devil himself burn in the place where he should be staying?" Witlock smirked and looked at Kiku who was thrown back at the ground, his strength quickly being taken away in large amounts from his body.

"We'll ge' 'im back soon, Artie. Just wait; we go' yar wounds an' tha ship t' treat." Alasdair reminded Arthur and they jumped back to the Sonnet which looked like a disaster area.

Back in Witlock's ship, the captain walked past Kiku when his first mate, who was a thin man with a malicious smirk on his face, came up to him while holding Kiku's head up with his head, "Captain, what would you like to do with this very attractive prisoner?"

Witlock turned his head and waved his hand dismissively, "Do anything you want to him. He's all yours boys." Then he walked up to his cabin with a smile, "Seeing how Kirkland was earlier was enough for me."

The rest of the crew cooed maliciously and hi-fived each other while the first mate looked at Kiku hungrily, "Glad to have a new toy on board."

* * *

><p><strong><em>BK123: Crappy chappy is crappy. There isn't so much in this chapter. What will happen to Kiku? What will Arthur do? Who will help them?<em>**

**_I kinda suck at the action part and I was like "fuck this shit let's just summarize this shit" so this chappy is shorter than the others :3 I'll try to update as soon as I can._**

**_Guys, okay, the 30th reviewer will get a prize. Whether you're anon or not, you will decide what will happen next in the story~ _**

**_So yeah._**


	6. Allies and Plans

He didn't feel anything now. His body was all numb from everything; the cold ocean breeze did nothing but made him shiver ever more as tears found their way out of his eyes. What did he get into right now? He didn't know. He didn't care anymore. It was better that he died right now.

The only thing that covered him was the hellishly ripped shirt, a small blanket and different cuts done by the rough lashes from Witlock's whip. He continued to shake, despite being already used to the dungeon's cold floor. His eyes were staring into nothing as he continued to silently cry, his hand clutching the cloth on his chest to get more warmth and comfort.

_On his mind, the scenes flashed before him. Right after Arthur had given him the permission to escape, he just stood there watching the pirate walk into his deck with his cousin. He had no idea what he had or what Arthur just said. All he felt was guilt building up in his chest and gut that he wanted to puke. Shouldn't Arthur get mad at him for shouting and disrespecting his authority? Why did he let him escape?_

_He then ignored it; it was his chance to escape. He joined the rest of the crew in dinner until they all fell asleep and so did the one on watch. Sneaking into the longboat and lowering it down on his own (despite some difficulties), he rowed the boat away from the ship._

_And he half expected to see Arthur watching him escape. But he wasn't there._

_He swallowed and continued rowing the boat, trying to find an island or anything that could help him. The night grew darker and clouds suddenly covered the only source of light he had which was the moon now that he was far away from the Sonnet. Add the wounds he just suffered a night ago, his chores as part of the crew and the conversation he had with Arthur, he was feeling very tired and weary. He looked around and saw nothing then decided that maybe a few minutes of rest could be rewarding._

_His eyes closed for a moment and before he knew it, he fell asleep._

_.._

_.._

_.._

_A light immediately woke him up, and he turned his head around. A ship was right in front of him and a rope was tossed from the deck._

_Large masts were rolled up, and no one was up the nets or the poles. It was nearly as large as Arthur's ship, but it looked more... dangerous and simpler than the Sonnet. His eyes narrowed to see more details yet found the ship less appealing than what he knew that pirate ships look like. He still couldn't be sure. _

_Heartbeat going fast with desperation and doubt, the prince sat there looking at the rope, not knowing what he should do. Should he climb up the rope? But what would happen to him? The rope hung there patiently and he thought if those were pirates, they would have attacked him right? He didn't have any other chances left._

_He grabbed it and he was pulled up immediately with his eyes wide. Once he reached the top, he climbed aboard, losing balance as he jumped in. His body was still shaking from the pain and he had to force himself up to stand straight when a cold metal touched delicately his neck, making him tilt his head up._

_His breath hitched in his throat as he was surrounded by pirates and one of them holding the sword to his throat. This was bad._

"_Raven black bobbed hair, brown eyes and an Asian." An unfamiliar voice stated._

_As he turned his eyes only to see who said that, the weapon was suddenly withdrawn away from him and he was pushed down to the ground. How many times does he have to be thrown like this? His face crunched up as it received the usual pain he experienced frequently ever since he had been captured by pirates._

"_Tell me, Asian," the voice spoke up again, "From what ship are you from?"_

_Kiku looked up and saw Witlock loading his gun, aiming it at him loosely in his hand._

"_Answer me boy. If you do, I won't kill you. We just want to know if you're a spy of the government or not."_

_A spy of the government? They must be wanted in the place they came from. If that was their only business with him, then he must not fret. He was friendlier than Arthur when they first met anyway. He can tell him the truth and they can spare him. _

"_I-I am a captive of Captain A-Arthur." He rasped out, surprised at how rough his voice was. It was probably from exhaustion and lack of water._

_The crew members started mumbling but silenced when their captain motioned a hand and smirked, "Is that so?"_

"_I-if you could b-be a b-bit kind, ah, y-you'll s-spare me right?"_

"_Of course."_

_Ah finally. At least someone could help-_

"_He's the one the mermaids were talking about. Lock him up and get to work. We'll be paying that kid a visit." Witlock walked away and disappeared from his sight._

"_N-nani?" he watched in horror as a man carrying a brick walked up to him, smirking. The prince's head then felt a heavy thump and in a split second, he fell unconscious on the floor. _

And after that was the attack on Arthur's ship. Kiku felt a pang in his chest, his tears coming out more and more as his body slowly succumbed into numbness. The guilt was eating him up. He was the reason why Arthur was injured and his boat was heavily damaged. It was his fault that he was now crying in this dungeon, with only imaginary hope in his mind that he could still escape with the very little dignity he had. But his body was heavily injured and it was painful to move. The only thing he could do was lie down, recover a little and hope.

Hope that he'll get out alive.

Hope that Arthur will go back and rescue him.

...

"Blady hell Artie, if ya really wan' that wound tae heal, then ya gotta stap movin' 'round the fuckin' room!" Alasdair sighed, sitting on one of the chairs and resting his head on his fist, "It's gonna open again an' it ain't easy to patch it up once mo'!" the redhead complained, his green eyes following his injured cousin walk back and forth rather violently in the room.

"I swear I'm going to bloody massacre that Witlock." He hissed, finishing a bottle of rum with his right hand. His upper body had nothing but bandages with his left arm supported by a white cloth wrapped around his neck. After drinking the contents of the bottle, he threw it to the ground and it smashed into countless pieces. "I will make him pay for everything. For the ship. For Kiku."

Alasdair looked at him in confusion, taking a gulp of his own rum, "Wot is with ye an' that laddie? Othe' than bein' a princey an' a fortune-makin' hostage, 'e seems tae be mo' than that tae ya."

Arthur turned his head and glared at Alasdair, walking to him slowly, "Kiku is _my_ treasure. Mine alone. I won't let anyone and by bloody hell, _anyone_ to have him as their hostage or prisoner. I won't let _anyone_ get a hold of what's mine even if I would _kill_ everyone to get him back." He muttered gravely.

"Jus' askin'." The redhead leaned back as Arthur got nearer then drank again, "An' how do ya plan on gettin' him back?"

The captain walked to a table where a large map was and leaned his right hand on it, "We'll get to Dragon's Lair Island before they do."

"Ye had gone mad, Artie. Half of the crew is dead an' the ship ain't in good condition."

Arthur's teeth gritted together and he growled, his patience running out by the second, "I don't fucking care. Get the remaining men work and get us to the island as fast as possible. NOW!" he got another bottle of rum and drank, then dropped on one of the couches and continued drinking in

Without a word, Alasdair replied by standing up and nodding. It was useless to talk him out right now. Arthur wasn't praised as one of the fiercest pirates if he wasn't like that. But it was still annoying. He placed down his bottle on a table and walked out of the room.

Now Arthur wasn't like that to the other hostages and prisoners he had. He was usually brutal and merciless to them, but since Kiku arrived, his cousin had been softer than usual. What was with that Asian lad that made him change his behaviour? Arthur used to act like what he was acting earlier whenever he wanted to accomplish something that isn't saving a prisoner. So what if he's a prince? He had captured other royalties but didn't give them the same treatment and now he's babbling that Kiku's his treasure and shit-

Oh.

_Ohh_.

Of course.

His cousin _liked_ Kiku. And it's more than the interested type of liking.

Alasdair couldn't help but chuckle under his breath as he walked up to the deck. Now that made everything clearer. Of course, he should have known that earlier. Arthur was bisexual anyway. In public and sometimes privately he had courted women and even made love with them but he sometimes couldn't hide his interest in men. Alasdair found that out when Francis started teasing his cousin and almost kissed him (and Alasdair interfered and threatened Francis after he noticed Arthur wasn't responding violently). Right after that Arthur kept on denying until he made him drunk and he admitted everything.

Now the question is: does Kiku like his captor? Going through the past events, Kiku showed some hatred and fear on Arthur, but then at times blushed.

A smirk graced his lips as he placed a cigarette in his mouth.

Now he gets everything.

He lit the cigarette and breathed out a puff of smoke. Now that he understands, he knows that Arthur isn't going to be feeling any better until they do what he wants.

He walked down the stairs and looked at crew members who were shaking and treating themselves, "All ye scums get back tae work! We're headed off tae Dragon's Lai' an' I bettah not hea' any complain, aye!" he watched as all of them scrambled to their stations and did their work.

Arthur wouldn't be coming out until he had calmed down. He wasn't the type to show his temper in public, and he needed time to think things over.

Breathing in more of the tobacco-filled smoke, he ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the wood. Just early this morning they got attacked and now they were racing against time to rescue Arthur's crush. This was getting stressful by the minute. One of the masts was severely damaged and it was going to be a problem.

"Sir Alasdair!" Daniel shouted from the crow's nest. The red head looked up and saw the young man point at something at the distance. He followed the gaze and took out his telescope and looked through it.

Another ship was approaching them; fortunately it didn't look like a pirate ship. He watched as the other ship stop beside them, and then heard footsteps climbed down the staircase beside him. Arthur had his coat over his shoulders, looking at the ship as well.

It looked like a merchant ship. What do they want from pirates?

"Who the bloody hell?" Arthur stood beside Alasdair and both heard a loud thump from the floor below before Alasdair could comment.

A familiar long-haired blonde stormed up and pushed Arthur to the wall, "Fucking pirate!" green eyes glared into Arthur's own pair and the smaller blonde took out a pistol and pushed the barrel below his chin.

"Vash?" Alasdair approached the two, but was ignored. Vash was a weapon merchant, forger and distributer from Switzerland. The last time they saw the Swiss was when the German-speaking blonde chased them with heavy artillery when they stole some gun powder. He was one of the few people Arthur refused to cause trouble with.

"Where is she?" Vash hissed at Arthur who in turn looked at him calmly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Vash."

The smaller man pushed him more, pressing on his injured arm and making him gasp in pain, "I know you pirates got my sister."

"Look we have no idea what you're talking abo- agh!" his wound was starting to bleed again and Alasdair fortunately pulled the trigger-happy man away from his cousin.

"'e's tellin' the truth, Vash. Look ovah our ship, ye won't be findin' any damsel. They're bad luck anyway fo' men at sea." The red head defended the rose his hands up when the gun was aimed at him.

"My sister was suddenly kidnapped earlier. You're the second nearest pirate ship we could find. So you better show her or I'll shoot!"

"Am tellin' ya o'ready, we ain't got any damsel on board!"

"It was Witlock." Arthur rasped out, pressing his palm on his wound and lessening the bleeding, "If someone is kidnapped, it's his doing."

Vash narrowed his eyes but lowered his gun, "What makes you say that?"

Before Arthur could answer, his cousin wrapped an arm around him to support his balance, "Let's talk inside, yeah?" he offered, knowing that he needed to treat Arthur's wound again.

The three went into a room that had a fairly high ceiling with different tables and a large window at the right. Vash looked around and stopped his gaze on a painting of the queen of England; then he watched as Arthur took a seat and Alasdair sat in front of him and started to take off the blood-stained bandages off the wound.

"Your ship is a bit too regal to be a pirate ship, isn't it?" Vash commented.

Alasdair shrugged, ignoring a hiss from Arthur when he cleaned the bleeding wound, "A royal navy ship, used tae be used by the good ol' king of Eng-"

"It's not important. You're here to get your sister back?" the captain managed to compose his voice even with the stinging pain on his shoulders.

The Swiss showed his signature frown and stopped by a table, "How'd you know it's that Witlock bitch?"

"I've defeated Witlock before, made him run away with a ship that was already sinking to the bottom of the sea." Arthur started, again wincing as Alasdair tightened the bandage a little on his shoulder.

"So he came for revenge?" Vash raised an eyebrow.

"I still don't know how he fixed the ship when he was on the verge of losing it, but I do know that he's going to use prisoners as a way of recovering it."

"How'd ya know that, Artie?" Alasdair patted his back softly and stood up to grab a bottle of rum and drank it.

"Otherwise he would have killed Kiku. I don't think he knows that he's a prince; if he wasn't of any use Witlock should have killed him. As for Vash's sister..." Arthur trailed off in thought.

"Witlock su' knows that Vash is a weapon dealer. The damsel must be used fo' ransom right?"

"Kidnap for ransom?" Vash gritted his teeth, "I'm going to fucking kill that Witlock bitch."

The room was suddenly silent, each having their thoughts of how to get the enemy pirate at hand. Vash spoke up first, "I'm going to kill him." He turned around and headed for the door dismissively.

"Ain't ya goin' tae fight wid us?" Alasdair stood up, disappointment clouding his words.

"I don't fight with allies. They're too bothersome. I'd like to stay neutral." The smaller blonde took out his gun again and aimed it at the redhead, "You got a problem with that?"

"You're in a merchant ship. One of the very easy targets for pirates to capture even if it's filled with weaponry." Arthur stated simply but it was enough to stop Vash from opening the door. When the other one halted, he took it as a cue to continue, "In merchant ships, it's filled with men that aren't soldiers and fighters. I know that you are a skilled gunslinger but it'll be useless if you try to fight them without the enough number of men. It'll be hard to beat Witlock now, seeing as he recovered immediately after our fight, he must have help with him."

Vash, who walked unconsciously away from the door to listen more to Arthur, looked at him with a hard expression and a small grimace, "Fine, but I'm only doing this for my sister. You'll be using some of my weapons and I'll be needing your me-"

"AND WHY ARE YOU GONNA HAVE AN AWESOME BATTLE AND THE AWESOME ME AIN'T HERE?" the door suddenly burst open and the same albino man leaped in with a grin.

"_Mon cher_, it's very rude to barge into the office while there is planning." Francis stepped in and walked towards Arthur, "_Mon petit lapin¸ _what happened to y-"

A gun was placed on the Frenchman's neck; and blue eyes turned to see Vash glaring at him, "What are you bastards doing here?"

Francis simply pushed away the gun and shrugged care freely, "We're offering our help."

It was Arthur's turn to frown, "What in bloody hell makes you think we're accepting your help?"

"Because half of your men are injured, our men aren't and I can help you in supplying the swords while Vash here helps with the guns." Francis run a hand through his hair and flipped it with a sheepish look on his face.

Alasdair sighed as the two smaller blondes glared at Francis but shrugged and leaned on the table, "'E's got a point the', Artie. An' if ya want tae reach the islan' fast, yar gonna need their ship." With that, Francis shrugged in victory while the other two looked away in defeat.

"HEY FRANCEY. ANTONIO WON'T GET IN!" the albino's rough voice made all of them look at the door where Gilbert was trying to pull a certain sun-kissed brunette into the room.

Arthur's eyebrows furrowed and he turned to Alasdair, "There's no bloody way I'll be fighting with that Spanish wanker!"

"Who're you calling a wanker, _bastardo_!" Antonio hissed and drew out his sword where Arthur in turn stood up and got his sword as well. The two started the charge at each other, and then crossed swords when a large bang and a bullet sped through the two blades and silenced all of them.

"Violent pirates." Vash stood while holding the gun in hand.

"_Se calmer, mon cheri." _Francis and Alasdair pulled them away from each other.

Antonio pulled himself away from the Frenchman while glaring at Arthur, "Go do what you want. But I swear I won't be fighting with _Arturo_." He hissed and marched out of the room.

"Antonio's being so unawesome and a kill joy." Gilbert folded his arms and pouted, "He used to be the life of the party!"

"It's just with Arthur, Gilbert." Francis sighed and turned to the other three men, "So what do you say _mon cheri? _We haven't been in battle for quite a while so we want to join you. Is that alright?"

The first mate looked at Arthur who was now sitting again and looking away to some random things in the room while Vash was leaning on a pillar with his arms folded. A sigh escaped from Alasdair and he cleared his throat loud enough to snap the two's minds for answering.

"I'm doing this to get Kiku and kill Witlock." Arthur muttered, still looking away.

"I don't do well with other, but I'm doing this for my _schwester._" Vash did the same.

"That's a yes, then." Alasdair shrugged and took another gulp.

...

"_Easy with her. Don't damn drag her for Davy Jones' sake!" a rough voice complained._

"_What's with this girl anyway? Why'd the captain want to kidnap her?" another one came in reply, making Kiku stir in his dream._

Was he dreaming? He didn't know. Right now he was too tired to even think. His body has gone completely limp and numb from pain that he wasn't sure if he was still in the dungeon. His eyes were still closed; he liked it that way, it was more relaxing and it gave him something good that he could only afford for now: sleep.

But the creaking of metal bars kept on bothering him and a small thump near him made him wince. He had no idea what was happening but he heard a small "Oh!" from the object that fell on the floor.

"I said go easy with her!" the voice came back again.

"Why?"

"Don't you know Vash Zwingli? That violent, merciless gun-maker from Switzerland?"

"No, not really."

"Well then, that's his sister. She's just a hostage, not a prisoner. If he sees on small bruise on her when he gets her, we're all dead!" the voices seemed to move away now. The more silence the better for Kiku.

"He's that scary?"

"Yeah, there was that one time that he killed a-" the voices faded away and a small ocean breeze managed to get in and made Kiku shiver even more.

"O-oh my!" a young feminine voice replaced the other two. Kiku slowly opened his eyes and saw pink. He opened them more and realized it was a dress and saw the small blonde girl wearing it, "M-mister? You're heavily injured!" she wrapped her arms around the poor man lying on the floor and helped him sit up.

His vision stirred and he could vaguely look at her for a moment, then realized she had green eyes. Just like Arthur. He mentally scoffed, thinking why he would be reminded of Arthur right now. He was the sole reason why he was here, suffering and dying. Dehydration clouding his mind and vision, he couldn't clearly hear what the girl was saying but when he felt a small container touch his lips, he automatically opened his mouth a bit and drank the water that flowed in a heavenly manner into his mouth and throat.

He took more sips and the container was pulled away from him, leaving him a bit disappointed but nevertheless thankful for the water. He blinked more and looked at the young girl sitting in front of him, looking worried.

"_A-a-arig-gato."_ He rasped and felt a soft warm hand grab his own and another on his forehead. It felt relaxing that he wanted to close his eyelids again.

"You have a fever. And your wounds are still bleeding a bit." She muttered and he watched her open her small brown leather bag and took out a small bottle and opened it, "this could sting, but it'll help your wounds heal."

Kiku's hand twitched as his wound was touched and a fiery sting radiated all over his body. But he was too weak to show any other reaction that he just winced and groaned when his wounds were covered by an unknown gel.

The girl continued to treat him at his back and then got the blanket that was on the floor and placed it on him. Kiku's heart relaxed as he felt the girl's kindness covered him and nodded, "T-t-thank you... very m-much." He smiled weakly and rested his head on the wall.

"I-it's not much but you're welcome." She nodded, then smiled a bit, "At least you're better. M-may I know your name?"

"Kiku... Honda Kiku." He smiled wider yet a small sting radiated in his head and made him groan.

"My name is Lily Zwingli." She moved beside him and pulled his head on her lap, "Just sleep, _Herr_ Kiku. My brother will come and save us."

_I hope so_.

...

"Witlock~" a cheery voice sang the pirate's name and made him stand up from his seat in the top deck.

A tall man with platinum blonde hair and bubby violet eyes in a coat and scarf waved at him from below. _How'd he get here so fast?_ Witlock climbed down the stairs and bowed down a bit, "Sir Ivan Braginski."

"I came to follow-up your payment!" Ivan grinned cheerfully, clasping his hands together, "I hope it looks presentable when you show it to me!" he chuckled like a child then looked at Witlock with dark auras in his eyes, "You have it, don't you?"

"Y-yes! I do! In fact, h-he's someone in y-your type!" Witlock smiled a bit, his heart thumping at the man who was unconsciously death-threatening him.

"Really? What's he like, _кролик_?"

"A-Asian. And a really feisty one. B-but he's a bit tired so you'll have him later!"

Ivan nodded and skipped to the edge of the ship and grabbed a rope, "I better be impressed or else~!" he waved and chuckled then jumped off the ship and into the long boat where a young green-eyed brunette sat.

"M-mister Ivan, the b-boat almost broke when you jumped..."

"Nonsense, Toris! I like jumping and the boat is strong!" Ivan sat down again and looked at up Witlock when Toris started rowing.

"If I don't get him by tomorrow, I'll be taking something else from you, alright? Good day!"

* * *

><p><strong><em>BK123: I hope this covers for the short chappy last time. Anyways, I'm sorry if there are some errors, I'm too lazy to read it all over again. I tried my best to update it really soon and trust me, there will be more events after this.<em>**

_**So now you have Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Bad Touch Trio and Russia with Toris in this chappy~ oh yeah Russia will be a neutral character that means he's not bad nor good nor is he in any sides. **_

___**With Switzerland and the BTT teaming up with Arthur, what will happen?**_

**_Trololololol, reviews anyone?_**


	7. Black and Gold

The long-coat was rather pleasant and comfortable to wear, though the sleeves were too long and large yet the crew member that had delivered the clothes said it was perfectly Asian-like even though it didn't even look like a yukata or a kimono. And by this little service, Kiku now knew that he wasn't just a prisoner; he was some sort of payment. Lily had helped him clean up and wiped his body free from blood so he could look, just what the first mate had said, presentable for the evening to come.

They had arrived at Dragon's Lair Island, the location which Arthur had recently planned to come, yet the two were still in the dungeons and were only to be brought out during the "meeting" to be held later that night.

Kiku had gained enough energy and was already standing up and walking around, while talking to Lily and thinking how to get out. He was feeling a lot better thanks to the young foreign lady. Now his mind drifted off to Arthur, succumbed into thoughts and feelings which he somewhat hated earlier.

"_Herr _Kiku?" Lily interrupted his thoughts when she noticed him stop and his face shifted in a horrid expression, "Are you alright?"

He immediately snapped his head to her and shook his head, "I was just... thinking. It's nothing to worry about." A small smile covered his face from showing any opposing looks.

"You look very worried about something."

_Someone,_ he corrected inwardly. Again outside, he shook and smiled, "Just remembering unimportant things."

Thankfully the damsel, though hesitantly, believed him and continued to just sit and wait patiently.

Now all he had to do was wait until they were released, and hope they had a chance to escape. He now turned to lean at the wall and absently gazing at the floor. A heavy sigh was released causing a shudder to travel through his spine. He needed to recollect things and most of all, feelings, right now.

He was still confused with himself, honestly. His reactions and sudden outbursts were certainly unlike him; he was more composed with his feelings and emotions before. At first he had considered shock at the sudden turn of events, yet he dismissed it later on when he found himself a bit comfortable with the crew members. When he was about to ignore his change in personality, that kiss between Arthur and that _creature_ brought back the unusual feeling. To make matters a bit more complicated, he suddenly had an angry outburst, which is something he had never done before. He still didn't fully know why he actually exploded emotionally like that, initially blaming homesickness and worry for his crew ship. Yet he knew those weren't all the reasons why he did.

His eyes closed slowly, whilst his brain decided to show him an image of the certain person his feelings are quite conflicted with. Someone he should be despising, but happened to worry about at this time. Those vibrant arrogant green eyes that had every crew member flinching under his stare but at the same time had that bright beautiful shine of something else even with that dangerous hint of death written whenever he wished it was written. Those smirks which could make the most masculine men gulp in nervousness, accompanied with the voice that commanded and made every man in his ship his little puppet. All these flashed into his mind and he could feel his heart beat faster.

His brows furrowed as he opened his eyes once again. He felt his hand twitch, in the sudden need of holding that certain someone's hand and feeling the warmth of it.

Another frustrated sigh came out and he bit his lip, fisting his hand into the soft cloth. Well at least he knew what's going on.

He was attracted to Arthur.

No, scratch that.

He was _in love_ with Arthur.

Now that he knew that, all he had to do is accept every feeling of worry he had for Arthur. Which is a lot. He turned to look at Lily, who seems busy with looking at random things, probably in boredom.

"Lily-san," he finally called her on the first time to start a conversation.

The said girl quirked her head up to him, her eyes wide in question, "_Herr_ Kiku?"

"I had overheard from the men that brought you here," he walked towards her and sat, "that you had a brother?"

"Ah, yes I do!" she enthusiastically nodded, "I came with him in travelling to deliver some weaponry to another land. Well, before I was kidnapped."

Kiku nodded and hesitated a bit with the next question, "Ah... have you heard anyone named Arthur Kirkland?"

Lily blinked for a while in thought and nodded once, "You mean Captain Kirkland? He raided into my brother's storage weapons not a long time ago. And from what others say, he is currently one of the strongest pirates."

He knew that, well aside from the raiding part, yet it was a bit unsurprising. "Well, is he... with anyone?"

A shrug was an answer from the young lady, "I do not have enough knowledge on Captain Kirkland. My brother knows more about him."

"Ah, I see." Kiku nodded again and sighed.

...

"Western pirate ships are approaching!"

A tall young man with long braided black hair and brown eyes frowned at the sudden proclamation of his crew member who was clinging halfway up on the front mast, leapt to the nearest crate and used it as a leverage to jump up the same wooden pillar but in a higher height than the other man. The sunlight hit his Kung-fu jacket, causing the golden threads to shine and making him stand out from the rest of the crew.

"Those ships look familiar, aru." He muttered, his eyes narrowing at the two large ships, accompanied by a smaller ship in the distance. He turned his head to the rest of the crew and ordered, "Head to those ships, aru!"

In a matter of time, the Chinese merchant vessel was parallel with one of the large ships. The braided man leaped from the mast when a familiar blonde landed inside with a thump, accompanied by his first mate, "Yao Wang."

"Ah! I knew it was you Arthur, aru!" the man addressed as Yao grinned and walked over to him, "What made you stop by my vessel without surprisingly attacking it, aru?" he cheerfully questioned with a hint of sour sarcasm in it. He took some time to take in Arthur's appearance, and halted when he saw his arm. His eyes widened for a moment and blinked, "What happened to you, aru?"

Arthur opened his mouth to reply when he was hit by something straight to the side of his head, "What the bloody hell?"

"I ate a fortune cookie earlier this morning," a monotone voice came from the lower deck, "it said that I should be ready for a surprise that could displease me. I never knew it would be so accurate." A younger man in the same outfit as Yao with short brown hair stood, looking over the visitors bored.

"You still haven't changed, Wong. You're still the same little brat as before." Arthur turned his head with a half smirk at the brunette.

"I thought you jumped over a cliff after you gave me to Yao."

"Even if I don't know why you thought that," Arthur's brow rose up; he was not really used to the younger man's blunt words and honest thoughts. He learned in a rather rude way that the cute little brunette was very much oriented in strong languages, "I just hope your next fortune cookie could tell you to shut up or something worse will happen." He snapped.

"Don't worry; I practiced my Kung-Fu skills." Wong shifted his position into a fighting stance with both of his hands in knife chop forms.

Yao blinked and glared at his student, "Wong! No fighting!"

Arthur scoffed and ignored the younger man, who in turn found the chance to glare in frustration of being ignored, "Anyways, I came here for your merchandises."

"What is it aru?" Yao blinked, then turned serious at the talk of business. Well this was his current profession right now, and he was rather earnest in his job, along with being a martial art teacher but that was far from his situation and home right now to be one, with the exception of Wong.

"We need some swords, if ye got 'em." Alasdair dug into his pocket and held out a filled pouch, "Yar tha nearest an' immediate merchant we located right now, and there's mo' whe' this came from."

"And trustworthy as well." Arthur added with a small grin.

Yao raised a brow, "I thought I supplied you enough last time, aru."

"There were some... difficulties along the way." The blonde carefully picked out his words, trying not to give out too much information at the tragedy they experience just hours ago.

"Hm, is that so? I guess I won't ask anything more, aru." The Chinese nodded, knowing Arthur won't be giving him anymore information. He then turned to his men and instructed in their own language, along with Wong who surprisingly nodded in obedience and helped the others as they scouted the ship for weapons.

The Chinese merchant brought Arthur into the bottom deck where the wedged armoury was kept. Alasdair stayed outside, volunteering to look-out and having a small talk with Wong who decided to walk up after calling up the workers to set up the merchandises.

"What happened to your arm, by the way, Arthur?" Yao blinked once again at the wound, "I rarely see you injured like that, aru."

Arthur walked around the stands of swords, holding one up and placing it back down. His face holding a stern look, he shrugged the question off and making the Chinese man pout childishly and mutter complaints inaudibly from the feeling of being ignored. He didn't need Yao to get into the large mess; he didn't need any more people getting involved in a battle he had taken personally.

He continued to look at the weapons when his eyes landed on a small stand. The green orbs glinted in interest when he took a step towards it, his head tilting in instinct when he saw the Asian-style sword; the black clothed handle was designed with narrow gold diamonds and what probably sheathed the long slim blade was a smooth black case that was artistically carved with silver flowing patterns. A gold and black carving designed the collar, shining a bit in the light that passed through the holes in the ceiling.

"What is this?" Arthur's voice was strained in pure curiosity. Not only did it have a beautiful appearance, its look simply reminded him of someone.

Yao's wide eyes turned to look at Arthur who was standing in front of the sword, tilting his head in wonder. He doesn't know what kind of sword that is? "That's a Japanese katana." He walked over to where the blonde was and took the sword off the stand swiftly that Arthur had to blink for a couple of seconds before knowing what actually happened.

He watched as Yao unsheathed the sword, exposing the blade that he perfectly predicted to be smooth and long. But he didn't expect that the gold spacer of the blade was designed similarly as the case, with black stems stretching for about three inches into the metal. But what caught his interest is the name of the sword. Japanese katana? "That is really a beautiful sword." A smirk that threatened to turn into a grin crept into his face as he eyed the katana again.

"This one's a lot more expensive than the other swords, Kirkland." Yao sheathed it again, "and I doubt that any of your crew members know how to use this sword."

Arthur once again ignored his statement, "How much is it?"

"Gold," the braided man placed the sword back to the stand, "500 grams."

"That's a bit pricey, dear."

Yao smirked, "Of course, Sir Kirkland," regretting a bit that he placed it back, he took the sword again and unsheathed it, then waving it carefully in the air as if advertising it. "this is actually one of the most expensive katanas I got when I was in Japan. This was made by the most skilled blacksmith of the royal family of the last dynasty before now." He held it horizontally, the blade acted as a blurred mirror when Arthur saw his reflection, "this was used by one of the head generals during the wars that happened in the dynasty. It's still in perfect condition; the blade is being sharpened even when not in use and cleaned regularly."

The blonde watched as his companion covered the blade again, and then looked at the other swords that were standing dully in the room. He was silent for a moment, and then turned to Yao again with an unreadable look on his face, "I need 50 of those swords," he paused for a moment and looked at the katana, "and I'll be borrowing Wong for a while."

...

"Shouldn't we take the Asian up already?" a raspy voice shouted from the deck above the dungeon, immediately making Kiku look up, "it's already sun down and the captain said we better get him ready before dark."

He stood up from his position beside Lily who followed him in standing. It's sunset already? Time was absolutely fast, or maybe he woke up late during day. But that didn't matter; he was busy trying to think an escape plan for both him and Lily. He had visualized what would happen when he took it in action. If he was to be dragged out again, he could fight them off and probably take something as a weapon to defend both of them if it gets out of hand. But putting the number of men and the weapons they have, they probably wouldn't even get up to the top deck. It was dangerous for the seemingly fragile young lady as well.

His thoughts were again put to a halt when the man whom the voice earlier belonged to walked down the stairs along with another man who was in the same clothing but his face was partly covered with his hat.

"Yer presentation's comin' up, Asian!" the man proclaimed, then turned to look at Lily, "Sorry, missy, ya gotta wait for your turn." He laughed manically as he inserted the key into the lock and opened the door. He stepped inside with the other man guarding the entrance, his face looking away from the scene.

Lily couldn't do anything but gasp when she saw the pirate lift a thick piece of wood and used it as a hammer to Kiku's back, sending him kneeling on the floor in pain, "Herr Kiku!"

The next thing Kiku knew his eyes were covered by some kind of cloth, and his hands were being chained by his back. He could only listen to Lily's pleads of not hurting him as he was pulled up to his feet and dragged out of the cell. The sound of the door being closed behind him told him he was probably going to be alone with these two men and he wasn't going to have a pleasant experience. He was roughly guided up to stairs, making the pain in his back and his wounds practically burning in pain. When they reached the upper deck, he heard the man scoff.

"Well the boat's practically empty if it wasn't for these prisoners and us." Kiku knew he was talking to the other man, but the information seemed useful enough. If they were the only ones in the ship, he could attack both of them. Even if he was blindfolded, he could still sense them after all. His years of training martial arts weren't placed into waste anyway, and what better way to practice it? But he had a little problem though. His hands were tightly tied together, and most probably he couldn't even keep his balance straight if he tries to kick them away when they attack at the same time.

His train of thought was again disturbed when he was stopped from walking and he heard a large thump from beside him and a groan from the man talking earlier, "Wot in Davy Jones do you think you're doi-," Kiku could hear footsteps from where the thump originated, telling him that the smaller man was running towards someone. It wasn't long enough until he could hear a loud groan and some cracking of bones from somewhere in the room and something being stashed into something at some corner of the deck.

Kiku tensed as he felt the man walk swiftly towards him then his coat being lifted up. Hands wrapped his waist momentarily before they met at his side, and he knew something was being tied to him. The hands disappeared and the coat was placed back, fixed and for a moment, the man stood in silence before tugging him when another man called out, rudely inquiring about Kiku.

He thought about asking what happened to the other man, but he could feel that the other man was only going to be quiet. His hands twitched as he pulled the rope around his wrists, trying to loosen them while they walked and were accompanied by other loud men yet the one holding and guiding him was silent.

The thing tied unto him by the man was long, but that was the only thing he knew of it. He was more confused right now, and he couldn't concentrate on escaping. He was even worrying about Lily, and some part of his mind sensing Arthur was nearby. He bit his lip, trying to keep what he thought are unnecessary thoughts away from his head. Escaping right now was his main focus, but what just happened moments ago was making it difficult for him to decide what to do along with the loud voices of the pirates.

They walked more, until Kiku realized he took a large step unto something and he was walking on a narrow path and the next thing he knew, he was falling. It took him a second until he felt the sharp pang of pain as he landed face first on soft sand, he groaned again and he felt another one fall beside him and he was pulled up again.

Damn pirates.

The others followed with large voices and he was being dragged to walk again. Walking with them was the same as earlier when one of the voices called out, "Hey..."

He was forced to stop again and listen to what the other pirates had to say.

"I don't recognize you... you're not the part of the crew!"

"A spy?" another rough voice called out and he heard another thump.

Kiku was stunned for a moment, not even knowing what was going on anymore until he was pushed down to the ground and he heard the other pirates shout and other sounds of pushing and fighting.

"We're being attacked!" Kiku heard someone shout from afar, repeating it until his voice faded.

He then heard gunshots followed by some Western profanities; he knew a fight was still going on, but he couldn't focus on listening anymore when he felt he was being pulled up again, this time by his collar and the blindfold taken away.

And he didn't expect to be greeted by angry green eyes by a blonde that he had never seen before.

"Where is Lily?" he hissed through his teeth, his eyes threatening death with every word he said.

Kiku opened his mouth to answer but strangled, frightened sounds came out instead from the nervousness he got from the glare.

"I-in the d-dungeon... in the ship!" he finally answered and he was thrown away uselessly to the ground again as the blonde turned to shoot the incoming pirates that ran from inside a cove on the island that they stopped.

He could now see the pirate that entered the prison cell earlier, fighting with the other pirates. No kidding at all, the man under the hat earlier was also Asian, but his fighting style was different. Kiku recognized the moves from a fighter he met years ago that came from another country bigger than Japan. He now watched the blonde join the younger man in battle against the pirates, and he was even more surprised when he heard a familiar voice echoing in the beach.

"AND WHY ARE YOU FUCKERS HAVING A FIGHT WITHOUT THE AWESOME GILBERT?"

He was somehow thankful that he was thrown into the side where it was fairly far from the battle, he could observe what the island looked like. The island was huge, and filled with palm trees and other plants. The night made it look dangerous and unending, and had a high probability of confusing unwary travellers that dared to explore it. Large rocks were scattered around in the white sands, and a tall large stone walled one part of the island. The sand felt soft against his body; it would be nice to spend a quiet evening here, well, without all these pirates fighting and causing explosions.

His quiet musings were again stopped when he heard stomps on the sand towards him.

Again for the umpteenth time, he was suddenly pulled up, roughly again by his collar and Witlock's first mate held him up painfully, "I don't know who they are except that damn albino over there, but I know you're with them, and you're going to be in hell when I bring you to the captain!"

Kiku was about to say he didn't know who they are when the man was suddenly hit from behind and collapsed. Luckily, the Japanese was on his feet already that he didn't have to stumble down on the sand again. He looked up in confusion and saw a familiar French man smiling before him.

"_Mon cher_! Look at you; you look like a puppy that hasn't been fed well enough!" Francis turned him around and cut the ropes off from his wrists then swiftly swung his sword to a charging pirate and stabbed him.

"F-Francis-san," Kiku twisted his wrists, stretching them before turning around and throwing a man unto the hard rocks by the cove. Even now that he's part of the fight, he still couldn't help looking around for any sign of another blonde pirate that should probably be somewhere near them. Yet when his eyes landed on the two foreigners fighting in the distance, he voiced out his thoughts as he punched and kicked two more men while helping the Frenchman, "Who are those people?"

Francis answered with a smirk and a whistle as they switched positions and attacked two more pirates, "Ah, that cute young man is Wong, he used to be Arthur's little boy until he was entrusted to his friend of his." He explained with a small chuckle and they both moved towards the fight when a couple more men tried attacking them, "That violent blonde man is Vash Zwingli. He's a gunslinger and I think you have met his younger sister."

"You mean Lily-san?" Kiku watched as the one named Vash forcefully kicked one man and shot him then turned to grab another gun and did some kind of turn where he shot more than three men in only one swipe. It honestly looked nice, as if the man was doing martial arts that had something to do with guns. Then again, spike of worry went through him as he faced Francis, "W-where is Arthur-san?"

"_Mon petit lapin_ is with Alasdair, hiding until the fight goes another way. Vash is supposed to be with them, but I guess nothing could hold him back anymore."

Kiku wasn't sure how it happened but the beach was suddenly swarming with pirates, all of them serving under Witlock. When they charged with swords and guns, Francis pulled Kiku back by the rocks hopefully avoiding the stampede.

Gilbert stood firm as the men ran towards his direction with a large smirk and his arms stretched wide open, "COME AT ME YOU LITTLE MOTHER FUCKERS. COME AT HIS AWESOMENESS, GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT!"

As if the proclamation was a signal, Kiku heard a familiar voice shout in the distance and saw Alasdair on top of a rock with a torch and an army of pirates behind him, "ATTACK YE USELESS COCKROACHES!" he held his sword up high and charged with the pirates following him from behind.

The raven-haired man could only watch as the battle that looked so much like an actual war occurred right in front of his eyes. He was so distracted that he didn't pay attention to Francis who said a small permission to leave and jumped into the sea of pirates to fight as well. It took him a moment when he realized he was the only one standing as audience then decided to fight along with them. It wasn't really a bad decision though, he somewhat felt relieved when he fought earlier. His muscles were being too idle for a long time for his liking.

Succumbed to the heat of the battle, he couldn't help but smile a bit at the tension of the battle that was far from the one he felt when he was captive. No, he couldn't deny that he was a fighter himself. He subdued some of the enemy quite easily and dodged their attacks followed by a counter hit against them. But at the back of his mind, he wasn't able to stop worrying on something. A part of which is Lily, who was still in the dungeon maybe, but hopefully, he didn't see Vash anymore. He was probably on his way to save her. And another big part screamed to him that he should find that certain pirate.

He wasn't sure if fate was being considerate of him, but his heart jumped up and down when he heard a certain voice from behind him.

"Well bloody hell, these blokes are really a handful!"

Kiku turned around and saw Arthur crossing swords with some random pirate, then stabbed and kicked him down on the sand. His left arm was still bandaged while his right was busy swinging his weapon with dexterity, wounding anyone that got too near for his personal bubble. Just like him earlier, the blonde was too busy grinning sadistically in battle even when he's injured, and he probably didn't notice Kiku when he kicked a poor man in his direction until he called out.

"Arthur-san!"

Arthur kicked and stabbed another man away then looked at Kiku. His eyes widened and his bloodthirsty smirk was replaced with a happy smile, "Kiku!" he ran towards him, and not without cursing and slashing a man who unwittingly went in his way, "I'm so glad you're safe." He muttered softly under his breath.

A small embarrassed smile took advantage of Kiku's vulnerable blushing face and he was about to say something in return when Arthur leaned down swiftly and captured the smaller man's lips with his own.

Brown eyes widened at the action, and he could see Arthur's eyes were closed while the hand holding the sword was hanging by his side and the battle happening around them, but he was too focused on what was happening to him to give any care right now. For a second or two he didn't move, too shocked to respond. Yet when he felt Arthur's soft lips move against his, his mind told him he already figured out his feelings and he didn't need to do anything anymore except go with the flow. His eyes slipped closed and he kissed back, his right hand unconsciously tangling in the blonde hair as he felt his body relax and his heart flutter in bliss. He could feel Arthur smirk a little in the kiss before pulling away with a large grin.

Kiku stood, a bit paralyzed yet his chest and shoulders felt like they lost some weight or something as he watched Arthur swing his fist to another man's face and kicked him away. Then his eyes landed on his bandaged arm, and Kiku felt the wave of worry going through him again, "Arthur-san, y-your arm!"

Arthur blinked for a while at the sudden concern then grinned, "It's just a wee little scratch, love." He took a big step forward and sent another heel kick to the pirate creeping behind Kiku, "You should still worry about yourself; we're not in a good position right now to worry about my shoulder."

Slightly shocked at the sudden attack and his wave of worry being replaced by one of embarrassment from realizing Arthur's been fighting while he was succumbed in his thoughts about him, Kiku took a deep breath and smiled a little, "_Hai_." He blocked attacks from two pirates who decided to attack him at the same time and it took him about half a minute to knock them out on the ground.

The battle continued and Kiku realized he was driven away from Arthur, who also moved farther from their original position. He continued to fight, feeling a bit more pride as he defeated the pirates continuously without any help of a weapon. The men continued to fight and attack them randomly and Kiku wondered if they were going to run out sometime since they seem like ants: they never run out.

A large explosion from one side of the beach startled Kiku and the rest of the men fighting, then it was followed by the albino's voice laughter and cheering, "YA REALLY ARE ON FIRE, KUNG FU KID!"

It must have been that boy named Wong, Kiku inferred. Then he saw by his peripheral vision Arthur knocking more men who stopped fighting, distracted by the explosion and ended up a victim by his hand. Another spike of pride went into Kiku when he realized that that man over there was his, or that's what he understood from the kiss earlier.

He continued to fight when the rest of the men recovered, most of them not being affected the by the following explosions on the beach. All the while he still kept an eye on Arthur, making sure he was okay. Then suddenly half of his mind thanked himself that he was looking after the blonde and the other half pushed him to call out Arthur when he saw Witlock's first mate charging from behind him, faster than they thought he looked. No wonder he was assigned as the first mate.

Arthur turned his head when he heard his name being called, his mind stopping for a moment when he saw Kiku's worried expression and then noticed the man heading for him a little too late for him to react immediately. He could only watch as the blade moved towards but never reached him.

"Ah, _mi amigo_, I apologize but if there's a blade that will end Arturo's life, it would be mine." Antonio was suddenly standing by Arthur, blocking the first mate's attack and sent a turning kick towards him. Green eyes looked mockingly at Arthur as a lopsided grin was placed on his face, "You need help?"

The blonde scoffed as he swiped his sword at another man, "As if I need _your_ help, Anthony." He stepped aside, and so did the brunette, making them exchange positions as they stabbed and kicked the enemies in fluid motions.

"Tell that to your shoulder. I only did this because staying in the ship is boring, Arturo."

"Quit saying my name like that, it sounds horrible." The two continued to counter and half defended one another in practiced but forced movements that when they were seen from afar, they looked like dancing with swords.

Antonio smirked and stabbed another man, "The same with my name again." He saw from the distance Kiku fighting off enemies, moving slightly nearer towards where he and Arthur were and stealing some glances on the blonde, "but then again, I should congratulate you or something."

"Hm, I'll receive that positively for now." The Brit grunted again and overthrew another man then looked at Antonio's direction, "Duck." He commanded, and Antonio complied by bending over and letting Arthur slash at the pirate behind the Spaniard.

They looked very precise in movements, despite their rivalry, Kiku thought. How the two were able to maintain a practiced dance with swords while knocking out men attacking at different times without even leaving their imaginary circle. There was a bit of jealousy in Kiku while he watched them. But even with their fluid attacks, he could see Arthur sneaking a glance or two into his brown orbs accompanied with a small confident smirk; those alone could assure him.

Antonio continued swinging his sword, then bent over when Arthur jumped and he immediately slashed the last man that thought of attacking them. He then stood up straight and sheathed his sword, "I'm joining Francis and Gilbert now." Without further ado, the brunette left him as soon as the men stopped attacking. He ran towards Gilbert and Francis who were still busy fighting off some men, at the same time taking a peek at Kiku who was running towards Arthur.

Eyebrows frowning, the raven haired man stopped right in front of the blonde pirate and looked at him worriedly, "Are you alright?"

Arthur shrugged and raised his hand to pat him on the head, "It's going to take more of this to stop me, love." At the corner of his eye, he noticed a moving figure and turned his head. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the slightly coloured silhouette walk into the forest. It was Witlock. Gritting his teeth, he ran towards the direction with his hand gripping into the metal handle of the sword hard enough to probably cause a bruise in his palm.

Kiku blinked for a moment and followed Arthur without even thinking of anything else, "Arthur-san!" he called out when the blonde ran into the forest, confusion painting his eyes as they continued running into the forest.

It was hard to run in the dark inside the forest. The only thing that guided Kiku in the deep greenery was Arthur's loud footsteps and his loud panting as he tried to catch up to the large figure. Then he heard twigs and leaves being stepped on behind him, the prince turned his head and saw Alasdair running after them as well. The red head was also out of breath, but his eyes were still focused on making sure his cousin was safe.

Stopping in their tracks for a moment, Kiku and Alasdair looked at the large cave while Arthur didn't waste any time. They resumed running but again was stopped when they arrived at the very heart of the cove, stunned.

Around them were mountains of gold coins mixed along with chalices, jewelleries and other valuable treasures, glinting and shining from moonlight that peeked through the holes in the ceiling of the cavern. These were Singer's treasure; the one that Arthur was searching for.

Kiku heard Alasdair mutter something under his breath and him stepping towards him. His eyes trailed from the large piles of treasure to Arthur who stood cautiously in front of him, silence hurting their ears as the eerie feeling surrounded them. The prince took a step forward when Alasdair grunted and cursed, and both Kiku and Arthur turned and saw the red head on the ground, shaking in pain under another man.

"You're pretty determined, Kirkland." Witlock's voice echoed throughout the place.

Arthur immediately ran back to his cousin, only to be driven away by the sword of the rival pirate's first mate, "You bloody wretch!" their swords crossed and Arthur was pushed away, luckily caught by Kiku's arms.

Witlock appeared on a mountain of golden coins, his feet causing some of them tumbling down to the ground, "But then your brain must be rusted over to think that attacking me with your injury will cause you any good." With those words, the cove was suddenly surrounded by Witlock's men, the bearded man's laughter echoing within the walls, "I kind of regret not killing you last time, kid." He drew his gun out and aimed at both Kiku and Arthur, "I'll make sure you die this time." His attention went to Kiku and he nodded to his men silently.

Kiku was dragged away from Arthur, being held securely by a large muscled man and was pushed to the ground. A hiss escaped his lips as his body was attacked by the surge of pain. He had long stopped counting the times he experienced this kind of treatment, but it seems that even though he was supposed to be used to this, it was still painful each time his body hit the ground.

"You, in another matter, are still needed for my payment." Witlock slid down the pile then crossed swords with Arthur who decided to attack the moment he stepped on solid ground. "But you, blonde brat, is still my first business." He snapped and without wasting any time, stabbed Arthur in his waist, earning a pleading cry from Kiku. The man just smirked and looked at the raven who was too weak from lack of nutrition and exhausted from battle to move, "It's actually good to see someone you like die in front of your eyes. It helps with you future decisions."

Arthur clutched his wound while stepping back trying to maintain his balance despite the pain. Hissing lowly at Witlock and charging again to attack, only to be evaded and kicked to the ground.

"Arthur!" Alasdair found some of his strength to stand up and run towards Witlock to attack, yet again suffering the same fate as earlier when two men countered him on the head and threw him to the ground.

Kiku frowned and rasped out Alasdair's name and pushed himself up to his knees, feeling a bit useless at the moment. His body was still aching from the numerous falls he had encountered tonight, and the tension wasn't helping in any way. Alasdair was still down on the ground, and from how Kiku saw his eyes, he was fighting to stay conscious from the blow on his head. This was horribly a one-sided fight.

His eyes turned to Arthur, and he felt even worse. If he could just muster enough energy just like earlier to fight, there might be enough hope to turn things around. He cursed himself again for being too weak right now, especially when he had a good chance to help out Arthur.

_Arthur_. His eyes snapped up to look at Arthur, who seemed to be in worse condition in the three of them. The blonde continued to attack Witlock, only to lose a bit of balance and miss. He was trembling badly, and his forehead was covered in sweat. What made Kiku even more troubled was the clouded eyes of Arthur that were already half-lidded.

"Feeling a little tired, Kirkland?" Witlock smirked mockingly at the man panting in front of him.

Fighting to make sure his vision was still clear and straight; Arthur gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand up straight, "I won't forgive for everything you've done to my ship, to Kiku and to my crew."

Another loud laugh echoed through the cave as Witlock stepped towards him, "Poor you, then." He aimed his gun at Arthur, then turned to look at Kiku with a smug grin on his face, "And don't worry, even if you come with me or not, he still dies."

Before he could pull the trigger on Arthur, a loud thump startled them. They turned their heads and saw Alasdair kicking the Witlock's first mate down, "Ye really think ye can knock me out by that weak blo'?" he grinned wickedly before stabbing the man on the stomach, getting a calm growl from Witlock in response.

"Kill him." The large man commanded and almost all of the men inside the cove, even the one guarding Kiku, ran and attacked Alasdair.

Once Kiku was left unguarded, he took the opportunity and to stand up, only to be kicked down by a large boot that he recognized as Witlock's.

"Don't you dare touch him!" Arthur's voice rasped out, now on his knees and looking even worse.

Kiku realized there was something wrong with him.

Apparently, Alasdair noticed it as well. He leapt away from the crowd of men and moved towards Witlock, "Wot did ye do to Artie?" he hissed while turning around to slash another man.

Witlock laughed again, walking away from Kiku and towards Arthur to hold his head up by his chin and throw him on the ground like a ragged doll, "Didn't I say earlier that whatever you do, he still dies." He smirked at Arthur, who had decided to just lay on the floor as his energy was soon consumed by unknown pain, "I'm not that dumb to think that this brat right here could be defeated without some poison."

Brown eyes widening, Kiku got up with a disbelieving look on his face, "You poisoned him?" his voice came out in a trembling whisper as he watched Arthur struggle to keep awake.

"If you don't want to end his life minutes early than he should, I suggest you stay down, Asian." Witlock chuckled, again aiming his gun at Arthur.

It seemed like the pirate wasn't expecting him to follow, so he had one of his men hit him on the head instead. His pale hand rubbed at the back of his head, a small hiss of pain leaving his lips. Alasdair was still busy fighting off the pirates to help Arthur.

Another laugh escaped from Witlock as he waited for Kiku to regain his composure and look at him. The raven man squinted a bit as the golden coins glinted too much for his sight and waited for his eyes to adjust and look at Arthur.

"Then again, I need to take extra precautions. Just to make sure he does die, maybe I can put a bullet in him."

Kiku's eyes widened again as he crawled to get up and a little bit too late saw the trigger being pulled and a deafening boom echoed inside the cove followed by Kiku's voice, "No!" he was able to get to his knees, and saw in his peripheral vision Alasdair copying his shock, almost getting stabbed by another man.

His breath hitched as his eyes connected with Arthur's weak ones while the man clutched new wound on the waist just beside the one that was caused by Witlock's blade. There was a part of those eyes telling him that he should run away. But instead of having fear in his chest when he watched Arthur, a sudden strike of disbelief surged through him, accompanied with anger.

The prince felt his hand tremble, half of his mind focused on something he hasn't thought for a long time. But his face still held an expression of softness and worry while their eyes were still connected, "A-Arthur..." not giving anymore care for the honorific, he called out repeatedly his name, pleading as if telling him to stop the urge of closing his eyes.

But Arthur didn't feel like cooperating with Kiku right now. The pain was too numbing to cope up anymore as his wound continued to bleed. He wasn't sure what will happen to him if he were to close his eyes, but his mind threatened to black out any moment by putting black spots in his vision while he looked at Kiku. Kiku. He mentally chuckled, feeling a bit more relaxed as he took in the pale complexion of his skin still looked beautiful with his messed up black hair and his lovely warm brown eyes. Scoffing in his mind this time, he asked himself why he was thinking like a lovesick teenager when he was in the brink of death. Then again it was quite nice to feel that, if it really is his time, to see Kiku and know that he accepted his small kiss of confession earlier.

More black spots appeared in his vision. Well then, he'll loath himself in another life if something were to happen to Kiku after this. Closing his eyes, he felt like a bit of the load on his shoulders was lifted off as he drifted into unconsciousness, half optimistic to wake up some day in the same world.

...

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

That wasn't supposed to happen. Arthur's eyes shouldn't be closed right now. He shouldn't.

It was ironic how much someone that has tortured and imprisoned him for just a few days ago could make him feel like his life was hanging on a thread by closing his eyes. It was ironic how a man he just met less than a week ago and brought him to hate him, was able to worry him to no ends. How just days ago he was planning to run away and now he was willing to risk his life just to be with him and make sure he was safe.

It was ironic how he didn't care anymore for the irony he experienced.

His chest was even heavier as he absorbed the scene in front of him. A lump was stuck in his throat and he willed it away by swallowing, hoping it would make his chest lighter. His hands were trembling while his body was aching to make him move towards the blonde.

"Now, now, don't look like that." Witlock chuckled, his words entering Kiku's ears louder than it should be, "Even I didn't shoot him he would be experiencing more pain if he was awake."

Another blow of pain hit Kiku on his side, making him stumble into a pile of golden coins. The man beside him smirked as he snorted at Kiku, telling him to just sit down.

But what caught Kiku's mind in wonder was the small clink that came from the contact of the solid gold valuables with his right thigh. He remembered immediately that something was tied to his waist by the young man who fought in their side. Shaking still, his hand trembled towards his side. He wondered even more why he hadn't noticed the item hanging by his side. It was probably light-weight, but he was more convinced by the feeling of nostalgia when he felt the smooth threads embedded on the item. Yes, it was most probable that he was used to having that thing by his side that he didn't notice its presence pressing into his body in battle.

His eyes fluttered to the unconscious (or what he hoped so) Arthur lying just beside the large mountain of gold. He could feel something in chest, replacing the worry slowly.

The coat was opened partially by his arm as he held the unknown item in his hand, his eyes turning to land to see what it is. For some reasons his body relaxed, signalling his brain that the item brought him good news. He fingered it lightly before holding it again, tightly this time while he felt his heart being covered by something in between darkness and anger. Or maybe the combination of the two. He didn't think it over this time as he looked at the item again and he smirked darkly on the inside as the familiar wave of feeling went through him.

It was a black katana.

...

"Mister Branginski, d-don't you think we should be staying away from battle?" Toris nervously stuttered as he stood beside his senior, hidden behind the shadows in another entrance a floor up in the cave. They watched as the conflict down below in the shining treasure continued, staying out of sight.

Ivan smiled gently at his assistant, "But Toris, I'm supposed to get my payment tonight. Staying in my ship doesn't seem like a valid choice."

"B-but we could get hurt or something."

"I just wanted to see them myself. One of which is that Arthur guy that your friend Alfred talked about." His amethyst eyes turned back to the scene down there, "he really is something. No wonder my dear Yao and Francis admired him." His smile still didn't waver while he watched them in amusement, then his eyes falling on Kiku.

The Lithuanian didn't say anything anymore to convince his master in leaving, instead he looked at Arthur with a small scowl of worry, "But he's already down."

A shrug served as an answer to Toris when Ivan kept his gaze on the man holding something under his coat, "That man is Witlock's payment to me, right?"

"I think so." The brunette blinked, following the taller man's gaze, "I don't think you'll be getting him immediately though."

Chuckling a bit, Ivan grinned gently again, "I want to see him play," his hand dug into his coat pocket and he held up a small glass container with clear liquid inside, "And then I'll join the fun too."

* * *

><p><strong><em>BANGARANG<em>**

**BK123:** **(-.-) d (/-,-)/ p**

**So there you have the long damn chapter you've been patiently waiting for I don't know how long. And a fail emoticon letter flip because the original table flip emoticon won't work here on . It sucks because I'm too tired for editing right now and classes are starting soon. Woo I'm a senior now ****(-.-)**

**Anyways living up to what I announced~ I shall give the 30th reviewer a prize~ :D and that person is_ kiku-dii_~ just leave me a message since you're not an anon or leave what scene to be included in the story as a review or something.  
><strong>

**Thank you guys very much for reviewing and subscribing and making this story as one of your favorites even if I do a bad job in updating it. So now, the 50th reviewer can have a fic request or something. I also need to polish my writing skills after some hiatus in making fics. XD**

**Spoiler alert for the next chapter: expect Dark! Kiku because I know I've been making him a bit too soft. And I think Alasdair is still fighting while Kiku and Ivan are musing inside their minds. So yeah.**

**Long author note is long. Don't forget to review, I like reviews (-v-)**


End file.
